Poems and letters. With an English translation, introd., and notes by W.B. Anderson

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1 i i»j«

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D.

EDITED BY
fT. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D.

fE. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. tW. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d.

L. A. POST, L.H.D. E. H. WARMINGTON, m.a., f.r.hist.soc.

SIDONIUS
I

SIDONIUS

POEMS AND LETTERS

WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION,
INTRODUCTION, AND NOTES BY

W. B. ANDERSON

nULME PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF MANCHESTER

IN TWO VOLUMES
I

POEMS
LETTERS, BOOKS I-II

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON

WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD

MOMLXm

PA

Si

v; /

First printed 1936
Reprinted 1956, 1963

Printed in Great Britain

CONTENTS

PAGB

PREFACE Vii

INTRODUCTION ix

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXTUAL AND

EXPLANATORY NOTES IxXV

POEMS 1

LETTERS BOOK I 331

LETTERS BOOK II 413

PREFACE

The present volume contains the first English
translation of the poems of Sidonius. The task of
translating the letters was originally assigned to the
late Dr. E. V. Arnold, He had drafted a rough rend-
ering, to which I have been repeatedly indebted for
an apt word or phrase, but as he had not had time to
consider fully the many problems presented by the
Latin text, it seemed advisable to rewrite the trans-
lation. I would fain hope that its present form is
such as would have met with his approval.

An attempt has been made, no doubt with in-
different success, to discover and express the whole
meaning of every sentence. There is a comfortable
doctrine, which has actually been propounded with
reference to Sidonius, that when a writer is very
hard to understand there is no need to translate him
accurately. It is scarcely necessary to expose this
fallacy, but one may remark that the many serious
mistakes made by historians and biographers through
failure to grasp the meaning of Sidonius show that
no one can afford to despise conscientious verbal
scholarship.

The translation, especially in the case of the
poems, is accompanied by numerous explanatory
notes ; it would not have been intelhgible without
them. They have involved a good deal of pioneer
work and many excursions into paths outside the

vii

PREFACE

regular beat of a mere Latinist. I cannot expect that
they will completely satisfy either the specialist or
the non-speciaHst reader ; I do, however, cherish
the hope that they will clear up some obscurities and
that a few of them will be of some interest to students
of history and to some other scholars.

Shortly before his death Professor L. C. Purser,
who had once thought of publishing a commentary
on the poems of Sidonius, most kindly put at my
disposal the materials which he had collected. It
is a melancholy pleasure to express my deep gratitude
for a thoroughly characteristic act of generosity.
Dr. W. H. Semple was good enough to read the
proofs of the translation and of a large part of the
notes. I am indebted to him for many acute and
valuable observations ; my obligations to him are
by no means confined to the places where I have
expressly acknowledged them.

W. B. A.

INTRODUCTION

I. HISTORICAL SKETCH:

FROM A.D. 406 TO THE " FALL OF THE
WESTERN EMPIRE "

The sources available for our knowledge of the fifth
century are meagre and often obscure, and the
attempts of modern historians to reconstruct the
facts show marked divergences. Even if the facts
were certain, it would not be easy to present in short
compass the history of a period so confused, so full
of intrigues and struggles in so many countries.

Gaul holds a position of special prominence not
only in the career of Sidonius but in the story of the
decline and fall of the western Empire. It is
reasonable, therefore, to start our narrative at the
end of the year 406, when four German peoples ^
(Asding and Siling Vandals, Alans, and Suevians)
made an incursion across the Rhine, sacking Mainz,
burning Trier, and spreading their depredations far
and wide. The invasion of Gaul by the usurper
Constantine from Britain in 407 may have checked
them for a short time, but he soon allowed them to
pursue their activities without serious opposition.
In 409 they crossed the Pyrenees and occupied a
large part of Spain. Meanwhile the Burgundians

* On the geographical situation of the various German
peoples see Bury, Later Roman Empire I., pp. 99 f .

ix

INTRODUCTION

had likewise moved across the Rhine from their
territory on the upper Main, and in the end the
Emperor Honorius, making a virtue of necessity,
allowed them to remain in occupation of the province
of Upper Germany (Germania Prima) ^ as foederati ^
(413).

We must now turn to the Visigoths, who were
destined to play a leading part in the dissolution
of the Empire. In 410 Alaric, their king, died, a
few months after his capture of Rome. Athaulf, his
successor, left Italy for Gaul early in the year 412,
carrying off with him Placidia, sister of Honorius.
After bringing about the fall of the new usurper
Jovinus, who had started an insurrection in 411
and found many adherents, he made overtures to
the Emperor, but as he refused to give up Placidia,
nothing came of them. He then occupied Nar-
bonne, where he married Placidia (414). Vigorous
measures by the general Constantius made his
situation in Gaul precarious ; he therefore proceeded
to Spain early in the following year, probably
intending to found a Visigothic kingdom in the
province of Tarraconensis, which had not been
occupied by the previous German invaders. He was,
however, assassinated at Barcelona; seven days

^ Its capital was Worms (Borbetomagus).

^ The foederati were the successors of the old client-peoples
who had acted as buffer-states to protect the Roman
frontiers. The ruler of a " federate " people received an
annual subsidy, which in theory represented the pay of the
soldiers at his disposal . When necessity compelled the Romans
to admit foreign peoples into Roman territory with the status
of foederati, the Roman land-owners had to surrender a certain
proportion (generally one third) of their property to the new
settlers.

INTRODUCTION

later the same fate befel his successor, and WaHia
became king. Debarred from food-suppUes by the
Romans and foiled in an attempt to cross to Africa,
Wallia came to terms, agreeing, in return for large
supplies of corn, to restore Placidia and to make war
upon the German invaders of Spain (416). On the first
day of the following year Constantius married Placidia.

Wallia vigorously set about his task of conquering
his " barbarian " neighbours. In their alarm they
sought to make terms with Rome. The Asding
Vandals and the Suevians seem to have gained
recognition as ** federates " of the Empire, but
Wallia was left to work his will with the other two
peoples. In a campaign of two years (416-418)
he almost wiped out the Silings, and inflicted such
grievous losses on the Alans that the survivors at
last sought refuge with the Asdings in Gallaecia.
The Vandal king Gunderic thus became " King of the
Vandals and Alans," and handed down the title to
his successors.

Then followed a momentous event. It was decided
to allow the Goths to settle in Gaul as foederati.
The lands assigned to them were the province of
Aquitanica Secunda (extending from the Loire to
the Garonne) and adjacent portions of Narbonensis
(including Toulouse) and of Novempopulana (west
of Narbonensis). Thus began the Visigothic kingdom
in Gaul. Wallia died soon after leading his people
to their new abode, and Theodoric I reigned in his
stead.^ The same period saw the quelUng of a

* The arrangements for the new settlers were completed
under Theodoric. The Goths received remarkably favourable
terms, as the Roman land-owners had to surrender two -thirds
of their property to them.

xi

INTRODUCTION

serious revolution among the Aremoricans of
Brittany.^ In Spain, soon after the departure of the
Goths, Gunderic, king of the Vandals and Alans,
attacked and defeated the Suevians, and, although
more than once defeated by Roman forces, ultimately
triumphed and established himself in the southern
province of Baetica, from which his successor Geiseric
was soon to aim a blow at the very heart of Rome.

National feeUng in Gaul, wliich boded ill for the
future of the Empire, had been accentuated in the
time of the usurpers Constantine and Jovinus, who
had found many adherents in that country, and it
was further heightened by the severe measures
which Constantius took against the ringleaders of
the insurgents. It was more than ever necessary
to consolidate the loyalty of the Gallo-Romans.
From this time dates the regular custom of appointing
natives to the office of Praetorian Prefect of Gaul
and to the other important official posts in the country.
Another significant measure was the organisation in
the year 418 of the Council of the Seven Provinces
{Concilium Septem Provinciarum), in which leading
men of the southern provinces met every year to
discuss matters affecting the public interest and to
make recommendations to the authorities. Among
the provinces which sent representatives were

^ The Aremorici inhabited the coast-land between the Seine
and the Loire. The troubles in Britain in the later years of the
Roman occupation caused many of its inhabitants to emigrate
to Ai-emorica, which owes its modem name to them. In the
fifth century Britannus is not infrequently used to denote
a native or inhabitant of Aremorica (cf. Sidonius, Epist.
III. 9. 2; more explicitly Britannos supra Ligerim sitos,
I. 7. 5), and it is not always easy to determine the meaning
of the word.

xii

INTRODUCTION

Aquitanica Secunda and Novempopulana ; ^ thus the
Roman inhabitants of the occupied lands were
stimulated to retain their Roman feelings in their
" barbarian " environment. The council met at
Aries, which had now become the residence of the
Praetorian Prefect, after Trier had been sacked
not only by the Vandals but on two occasions by the
Ripuarian Franks from the lower Rhine. Aries
became a proud capital, and everything possible was
done to make it a centre of Roman influence.

On the 2nd of July, 419, Flavius Placidus Valen-
tinianus, the future Emperor, was born. His father,
Constantius, was made a colleague in the Empire
by Honorius on 8th February, 421, but died in the
same year. He had worked hard, and with con-
siderable success, to maintain the cohesion of the
Empire in the West. On the 15th of August,
423, Honorius died. After two years of the usurper
John, the boy Valentinian came to the throne as
Valentinian III. For the first twelve years of his
reign his mother Placidia acted as regent. From this
time the disintegration of the Empire proceeds
apace, despite the emergence of a great military
leader in the person of Aetius. The Goths, under
Theodoric I, had turned longing eyes on the Mediter-
ranean shores of Narbonensis. Early in the new
reign they were hurled back by Aetius from the walls
of Aries to their own territory, where they remained
comparatively quiet, but always a potential source
of danger, for a few years. The " barbarian "
peoples on the Rhine-frontier could not be trusted
to keep the peace for long, and the Aremorici might

^ For an enumeration of the Septem Provinciae see note on
Sidonius, Epist. I. 3. 2.

xiii

INTRODUCTION

cause trouble again. Gaul thus made constant
demands upon the vigilance of Aetius. This fact,
together with the enmity of Placidia and her partiality
for less able supporters, prevented him from inter-
vening in another sphere where his tried troops and
his generalship were sorely wanted.

In the year 427 Count Boniface, governor of the
diocese of Africa, on being summoned home to give
an account of his actions, disobeyed and was pro-
claimed a rebel. Unable to cope with the forces
sent against him, he took the fatal step of inviting
the Vandals to come to his help from Spain. ^ King
Gunderic lent a willing ear to this proposal, but died
before he could carrj^ it into effect (428). His suc-
cessor Geiseric was only too glad to complete the
preparations. In May, a.d. 429, the combined host
of Vandals and Alans crossed the Straits of Gibraltar.
The Imperial government came to terms with
Boniface, but this reconciliation made no difference
to the greedy schemes of the Vandals. Boniface,
now entrusted with the defence of Africa, was no
match for the enemy, and was eventually compelled,
in the spring of 430, to shut himself up in Hippo
Regius, which underwent a long siege. ^ Meanwhile
the Vandals made themselves masters of the valuable
corn-lands of Tunisia. In this critical situation
Placidia appealed to the eastern Emperor, Theo-
dosius II, for help. His trusted general, Aspar,
entered Africa with a combined force drawn from
east and west, which perhaps succeeded in raising
the siege of Hippo, but soon sustained a severe

^ For a different account see Cambridge Medieval History,
I., p. 409.

2 It was in the course of this siege that St. Augustine,
Bishop of Hippo, died.
xiv

INTRODUCTION

defeat (431 or 432) and was unable to prevent the
capture of town after town by Geiseric. Soon
almost every important place, with the exception of
Cirta (the capital of Numidia) and Carthage, was
in the hands of the Vandals. Not until the year
435 did relief come. Aetius, with his formidable
army, composed largely of Huns, seemed now in a
position to turn his attention to Africa. Geiseric
dared not challenge him. On the 11th of February,
435, a treaty was concluded, whereby the Vandals
were allowed to retain, as foederati of the Empire,
a part of the African diocese (probably the provinces
of Mauretania Sitifensis and Numidia and the
north-western corner of the old proconsular province).
With a man like Geiseric such an arrangement could
not be permanent. An unrestricted African
dominion was his first and chief object. His covetous
eyes were already fixed upon Carthage.

We must now return to Aetius. In 428 he had
driven the Ripuarian Franks back from the left
bank of the Rhine. Another successful contest with
the Franks seems to have taken place about three
years later. In the interval he had conducted
decisive operations against the luthungi and other
troublesome peoples in Noricum and Rhaetia,^
and he had been made generalissimo of the western
forces of the Empire. In 432, the year of his first
consulship, he was deposed from his command to
make way for Placidia's favourite, Boniface, who was
recalled from Africa. Thereupon he concluded a
treaty with the Franks and marched against Boniface,
but was defeated near Ariminum. Boniface died
two months later, and was succeeded by his son-in-

^ iSee fcjidonius, Carm. 7. 233 f,

XV

INTRODUCTION

law Sebastian. Aetius betook himself to his old
friends, the Huns, and returned to Italy with a large
force. Placidia was compelled to reinstate him.
The treaty with Geiseric in 435 enabled him to
concentrate his attention once more upon Gaul.
In that year the Burgundians, who seem to have been
joined by Alani from Mainz, invaded the province
of Belgica Prima (the district round Trier and Metz).
About the same time the Ripuarian Franks descended
upon the same province from the north, after taking
Cologne, and Trier was captured for the fourth
time in a quarter of a century. Matters were further
compHcated by a revolt of the oppressed classes
(peasants and slaves) under one Tibatto. With the
aid of a large force of Huns from Germany, Aetius
utterly routed the Burgundians and laid their lands
waste (436). The Frankish invasion seems to have
evaporated, and the capture of Tibatto quelled the
insurrection of the Bagaudae, as they were called
(437). But the Goths were quick to avail themselves
of these disturbances, and once more invaded the
Mediterranean fringe of Narbonensis. Litorius, the
chief lieutenant of Aetius, had had to subdue a
revolt in Aremorica;^ he now hastened southward
and reUeved the siege of Narbonne (437). After a
short-Hved peace, negotiated by Avitus (the future
emperor), the Goths renewed their attacks on
Roman territory, but Litorius in a series of battles
drove them back. Near Toulouse, their capital,
they turned at bay. Litorius was defeated and
fatally wounded in a bloody battle. The Goths,

^ Sidonius, Carm. 7. 246 f. For the subsequent events
mentioned in this paragraph see w. 295-3 l.'i and 475-480 of
the same poem,

xvi

INTRODUCTION

though victorious, had suffered heavily, and were in
a mood to listen to Avitus, who had just become
Praetorian Prefect, when he proposed terms of peace.
It is probable that the Goths were now recognised
as a sovereign people (no longer foederatt), and that
their domains were increased by the cession to them
of the whole of Novempopulana.^

This treaty was far from being the only blow which
the Roman power and prestige sustained in that
momentous year (439). Geiseric perfidiously seized
Carthage and made himself complete master of the
proconsular province. His ruthless expropriation of
the land-owners, his drastic proceedings against the
orthodox Church, and the other features of his
conquest are related in all histories of the period and
need not be dwelt upon here. Both Valentinian,
who had now taken the reins of government into his
own hands, and Theodosius, the eastern Emperor,
were seized with consternation. Theodosius sent
a powerful naval expedition to bring the Vandals to
their senses, but it never got beyond Sicily, where
it was delayed by Geiseric 's diplomacy until trouble
nearer home necessitated its recall. A treaty was
then made (442), in which the best provinces of Africa
were surrendered to the Vandals, though Geiseric
undertook to supply Rome with corn and gave his
son Huneric as a hostage. He was soon compelled
by disturbances in his own realm, caused by his
despotic conduct, to seek a further rapprochement
with the western Emperor. He brought about the
betrothal of Huneric to Valentinian 's daughter,

^ See Stein, Gesch. d. sfdtrom. Retches, I. 482, n. 3. Most
authorities assign this improvement in the Gothic status to
an earlier date ; see note on Sidonius, Carm, 7. 216 sqq.

xvii

INTRODUCTION

Eudocia, who was then six years old (445). Huneric
(who was restored to his father at this time) was
already married to a daughter of the Visigothic king,
Theodoric I, but a charge of attempted poisoning
was made a pretext for discarding her, and she was
sent back to her father with her ears and nose cut
off. From 442 to the death of Valentinian in 455
Geiseric kept the peace with the Empire, though this
did not prevent him from encouraging the designs of
the Huns on Gaul.

Meanwhile Aetius had been active in Gaul, but
the details of his operations are not very clear.^
We learn that the Alani and the Burgundians, who
had suffered grievously in the disaster of 436, at last
had lands assigned them, in which they settled as
foederati. One body of Alans found a home in the
neighbourhood of Valence (440 or earlier), another,
under King Goar, the old supporter of the usurper
Jovinus, was settled near Orleans (442). In the
following year the Burgundians received a permanent
abode in Sapaudia (Savoy). It was apparently
about this time that Roman troops were finally with-
drawn from Britain. In 446 Aetius obtained the
signal honour of a third consulship. We have scanty
details of another rising in Aremorica, occasioned by
the exactions of the Roman treasury. It began
perhaps in 446, and lasted for some years ; in the end
the Aremoricans gained a position of complete
independence, nominally a,s foederati, and some other
Celtic peoples who had joined them seem to have
won the same privilege. Some time before 446 the
Ripuarian Franks were once more flung back across
the Rhine by Aetius. Probably after this came the

* The account in this paragraph follows Stein,
xviii

INTRODUCTION

attempt of the Salian Franks under Ghlogio to extend
their territory to the Somme, and their defeat near
Vicus Helenae.^ In Spain the Suevians, under their
king Rechiar, who had recently married a daughter
of Theodoric, crowned their long-standing hostility
by devastating the province of Tarraconensis, the
great stronghold of the Roman Empire in Spain.

The approach of the half-century was darkened by
the growing menace of the Huns under Attila. It
was fortunate for Aetius and for the Roman cause
that the specious overtures of Attila were regarded
with suspicion by Theodoric and that the mission of
A Vitus secured the support of the Goths. The bloody
battle of the Mauriac (or Catalaunian) Plains, near
Troyes, in which Theodoric lost his life, saved Gaul
from the invaders (451). Aetius, however, did not
follow up his success. He persuaded the new Gothic
king, Thorismund, to lead his warriors home, and
Attila was enabled to withdraw with comparative
ease, to ravage northern Italy and to threaten the
existence of Rome until his death in 453. Before
the end of this year Thorismund, who had renewed
the old policy of Gothic expansion, was murdered by
his brothers Theodoric and Frederic, and the former
ascended the throne as Theodoric II. The new king
had a tincture of Latin civiUsation, gained partly
through the teaching of Avitus,^ and at the beginning
of his reign he gave signal proofs of friendship. He
resumed the " federate " status which his father had
discarded, then he proceeded to Spain, where he
quelled an anti-Roman peasant rising and induced
his Suevian brother-in-law, Rechiar, to restore the

1 Sidonius, Carm. 5. 212 sqq.
« Sidonius, Carm. 7. 495-498.

INTRODUCTION

province of Carthaginiensis to the Empire (454).
The western Roman world was beginning to breathe
more freely, when it was suddenly convulsed by the
news that Aetius had been murdered by his Emperor.

Whatever one may think of Valentinian's motives,
the results of this deed were serious. The Goths
became restless, the Salian Franks under Chlogio
took Cambrai and extended their conquests to the
Somme, the Ripuarian Franks and the Alamanni
once more crossed the Rhine, and Count Marcelhnus,
who commanded in Dalmatia, declared himself
independent of the western Empire. A conspiracy
was formed, in which Petronius Maximus, a prominent
noble who had filled the highest offices of state,
joined forces with old followers of Aetius, and on the
15th of March, 455, Valentinian met the fate which
he had brought upon Aetius in the previous year.
With him died that loyalty to the dynastic principle
which had protected his family for nearly a century.
The Empire of the West now begins to fade away
in a miserable succession of brief reigns. The first in
this series of ill-fated princes was the Petronius
Maximus who has just been mentioned. Little more
than two months after his accession he was seeking
flight before the approach of Geiseric, whom he had
wantonly provoked. The furious crowd fell upon him,
stoned him to death, and tore him limb from Umb.
The Vandals entered Rome three days later and
plundered it for two weeks, returning at last to
Carthage with immense booty and some very im-
portant captives, including Eudoxia, the widow of
Valentinian, her two daughters, and Gaudentius,
the younger son of Aetius.

Petronius Maximus had made Avitus a magisier

INTRODUCTION

militum} and had sent him to secure the favour of
Theodoric for the new regime. Avitus was at the
court of Toulouse when news came of the Emperor's
assassination and of the sack of Rome. Theodoric
urged him to seize the throne, and offered his support.
Avitus allowed himself to be persuaded. A hastily
summoned gathering of Gallo— Roman senators met
at Viernum, or Ugernum (Beaucaire, near Arles),^
and enthusiastically hailed him as the future champion
of Gaul and saviour of the Empire. On the 9th of
July, 455, he was proclaimed Emperor by the soldiers.
He reached Rome in September, and assumed the
consulship at the beginning of the following year.
The Vandals claimed his immediate attention.
Geiseric had seized the lands which had been left to
Rome by the treaty of 442, and had declared his
independence of the Roman suzerainty. Avitus
tried both threats and armed force against him. An
armament which he sent to Sicily under Ricimer
foiled a Vandal attempt on Agrigentum and after-
wards won a naval victory near Corsica (456). But
the Gallic Emperor was looked on askance by the
Italian senators, and the people began to murmur
when a failure of the corn-supply threatened them
with famine. Avitus agreed to lessen the number
of mouths to be fed by dismissing the force of federate
troops which had accompanied him from Gaul. But
these had first to be paid ; he therefore melted down
and sold a number of bronze statues which had
escaped the ravages of the Vandals. An open revolt
broke out. At the head of it were Ricimer, the
ambitious Suevian whom Avitus had raised to the

1 See n. on Sidonius, Carm. 7. 377 f.
* Sidonius, Carm. 7. 572.

INTRODUCTION

second military command of the West, and Majorian,
friend and old companion-in-arms of Ricimer, who
had been made comes domesticorum by Valentinian
after the murder of Aetius.^ Avitus, deprived of his
loyal troops, was helpless, and fled to Aries. After
a vain appeal to Theodoric, who had gone to Spain
and was engaged in a merciless war with the Suevian
king, he mustered a force as best he could and
marched into Italy. Near Placentia he was defeated
and captured. He was spared for the moment and
allowed to become Bishop of Placentia (October 17th
or 18th, 456) ; ^ but he could not feel safe, and soon
attempted to return to his home in Auvergne. He
died on the way ; possibly he was murdered.

The fall of Avitus aroused consternation and in-
dignation in Gaul. Both the national feeling of the
Gallo-Romans and their loyalty to the Empire had
received a rude shock. The central government
had shown its weakness in many ways ; Africa was
lost to the Empire, and the Roman name, of which
they were proud, was sadly tarnished. In order to
repair the distresses of the time the resources of
Gaul had been raided with special severity. To
Avitus the Empire had owed much in time of peril.
Both as Gauls and as Romans they had looked to him
to inaugurate a brighter era. And now these hopes
had gone for ever; the Italian senators, it seemed,
would rather let the Empire go to ruin than allow
the supreme power to be held by one outside their
own charmed circle. It is no wonder if this sudden

* See n. on Sidonius, Carm. 5. 308.

* For this merciful method of making a fallen potentate
harmless we may compare the case of Glycerins, below,

p. XXX.

xxii

INTRODUCTION

revulsion of feeling led to desperate measures.
Lyons was the centre of the revolt. The rebellious
Gallo-Roman nobles allied themselves with the
Burgundians and admitted a Burgundian garrison
into the town. The insurgents, or a section of them,
seem to have invited Count Marcellinus to lead them
and to assume the Imperial diadem.^ He had held
a command under Aetius, and after the murder of
his old chief he had shown vigour and decision and the
courage of his convictions ; ^ he would be an in-
spiring leader, and he would make short work of
an Itahan clique if it stood in his way. Theodoric,
who had seen in his compact with Avitus a satis-
factory accommodation of Gothic and Imperial
interests, was now in no mood to keep the peace.
On his return from Spain he renewed the old attacks
on Narbonensis.

The coalition of Ricimer and Majorian resulted in
the elevation of the latter to the throne (457).^
Whatever one may think of his part in the fall of
Avitus, Majorian was certainly a man of ability
and character. Apart from internal affairs, his most
urgent task was the crushing of Geiseric. He
enUsted a great army, composed mostly of foreign
contingents, and prepared a large fleet, which was
to assemble off the coast of Spain. His plan was to
march through Gaul and Spain, gathering con-
tingents from the federate peoples as he went, and
then to cross the strait for a decisive struggle. He

^ See n. on Sidonius, Epist. I. 11. 6.

^ See above, p. xx.

^ There is a controversy about the exact date of Majorian*8
formal accession. See nn. on Sidonius, Carm, 5. 9 £E. and
384 ff.

xxiii

INTRODUCTION

set out late in the year 458. On his way he had to
subdue the rebellious Gallo-Romans.^ Lyons capitu-
lated, apparently a Uttle before the Emperor arrived
in person, on favourable terms which seem to have
been arranged by the quaestor Petrus.^ Majorian
showed a wise leniency. Even the severe taxation
which he at first imposed upon the insurgents seems
to have been remitted, and danger from the Bur-
gundians was removed by allowing them to occupy the
province of Lugdunensis Prima, with the exception
of Lyons itself. The Goths had next to be mastered ;
this was accomplished by Aegidius, who, with the
aid of reinforcements sent by the Emperor, drove
them back from Aries. In their case also Majorian
was conciliatory, and Theodoric agreed to a continua-
tion of the old federate status.^

Majorian's expedition came to grief in the following
year (460). An act of treachery enabled Geiseric to
surprise the Roman fleet off the coast of Spain be-
tween Cartagena and Alicante and to capture a
great number of the ships. Majorian had to conclude
a humiliating treaty by which Geiseric probably
obtained legal possession of the African provinces
which he had recently seized ; he may also have re-
ceived at the same time Corsica, Sardinia, and the
Balearic Islands, which were certainly in his posses-
sion a few years later. After spending some time in

* It seems probable that Marcellinus dissociated himself
from the revolt when he heard that his old comrade-in-arms
Majorian had been proclaimed Emperor.

2 Sidonius, Carm. 5. 568-573.

^ In this and in the preceding paragraph I have for the most
part followed the orthodox version. Stein's ingenious
account, though valuable, seems at times to strain the evi-
dence, including the evidence of Sidonius.
xxiv

INTRODUCTION

Gaul, Majorian returned to Italy with a small follow-
ing, having disbanded the " barbarian " contingents
enlisted for the Vandal campaign. On the 2nd of
August, 461, he was attacked and captured near
Tortona by a large body of Ricimer's armed retainers,
and five days later he was beheaded.

Ricimer, the Patrician (a title which he had held
since 457),^ was now the real ruler of the West, though
as a " barbarian " and an Arian he could not aspire
to the throne. In November, 461 , he set up a puppet-
Emperor in the person of Libius Severus. But he
soon found himself in difficulties. Geiseric, who
hated him, made piratical attacks on the coasts
of Italy and Sicily. Marcellinus, who probably
held the rank of magister militum in Dalmatia, and
Aegidius, the magister militum in Gaul, threw off their
allegiance, and Theodoric renounced the compact
which he had made with Majorian. The eastern
Emperor was induced to hold Marcellinus in check,
but the troubles in the Gallic provinces were not so
easily ended. The threatened invasion of Italy by
Aegidius was kept off by purchasing Gothic and
Burgundian friendship at a heavy price. The
Burgundians, under King Gundioc, were allowed to
occupy Lyons, and their territory was further en-
larged, so that they barred the land-route to Italy;
the sea-route was barred by allowing the Goths to
seize Narbonne and the greater part of Narbonensis
Prima, which extended from the Pyrenees to the
Rhone (462). The Goths were also encouraged to
extend their conquests in Spain, but when Theodoric's
brother Frederic tried to push the Gothic power

^ On this title as applied to Ricimer see n. on Sidonius,
Carm. 2. 90.

XXV

INTRODUCTION

beyond the Loire he was signally defeated near
Orleans by Aegidius (463), who had found a valuable
ally in Childeric, king of the Salian Franks. Fortu-
nately for Rieimer and his allies, Aegidius died in the
follo\ving year. But the wily Vandal had still to be
dealt >vith. Geiseric thought it politic to Usten at
last to the representations of Leo, the eastern
Emperor, so far as to give upEudoxia and her daughter
Placidia, whom he sent to Constantinople ; Eudocia,
the other daughter, who had married Huneric, was
retained. In return for this concession he is said to
have received as much of Eudocia's inheritance as
was situated in the East and also a promise from Leo
to abstain from hostiUties against him. Soon he
addressed further demands to the West, claiming
a large share of the property of Valentinian III,
and making the capture of Gaudentius a pretext
for claiming the property of Aetius. In addition he
demanded that Olybrius, an accommodating senator
who had married Placidia either in Africa or in
Constantinople, should receive the sceptre of the
West. Annual raids on Italy and Sicily reinforced his
demands. Nothing short of a great effort of East and
West in common had any prospect of crushing him.

On the 14th of November, 465, Libius Severus
died. He had really been a usurper, as Leo, who had
never acknowledged him, had legally been the sole
Roman Emperor since the death of Majorian.^ There
followed seventeen months in which Leo had no col-
league in the West. Geiseric continued to press the
claims of Olybrius and to attack Italy and Sicily.
At last he had the temerity to raid the Peloponnese.

^ So lordanes, Rom. 336; but his statement has been
questioned.

xxvi

INTRODUCTION

Leo was stung to action. He now acceded to in-
sistent requests from Italy, and appointed a colleague
to rule in the West and to collaborate in a great
offensive against the Vandals. The man of his
choice was Anthemius, who besides being a son-in-
law of the late Emperor Marcian had a distinguished
record of public service to his credit. Anthemius
was created Augustus on the 12th of April, 467.
In the same year his daughter Alypia was given in
marriage to Ricimer. Next year the great offensive
was launched. Basiliscus, the commander-in-chief,
sailed with an enormous force to take Carthage;
an army began to march from Egypt through
Tripolitana to co-operate in the conquest of Africa ;
Marcellinus, who held the chief command of the
western forces, was sent to capture Sardinia. Basilis-
cus, after defeating a Vandal fleet sent against him,
anchored near Carthage, and had Geiseric at his
mercy, but the resourceful Vandal persuaded him
(probably with the aid of a large bribe) to grant a
truce of five days. Thereupon the Vandals brought
up fire-ships and launched an unexpected attack,
inflicting such serious losses that Basiliscus retreated
to Sicily. The final blow came ^dth the assassination
of Marcellinus, who had crossed over to Sicily after
recovering Sardinia. This dastardly deed was almost
certainly brought about by Ricimer, whose position
in Italy would have been very insecure if Marcellinus
had come back covered with glory. Geiseric
promptly regained Sardinia, and a little later Sicily.
The eastern forces were vdthdrawn, and those of the
West were required for the defence of Italy and for
operations against the Goths in Gaul.

In 466 Euric had murdered his brother Theodoric

xxvii

INTRODUCTION

and become king of the Visigoths. It soon became
clear that he meant to throw off his nominal de-
pendence on Rome and to extend his dominions over
all the Gallic lands. The union of East and West
for the war against Geiseric, with whom he had
meditated an alliance, deterred him for a time, but
the disastrous failure of the great expedition gave
him his opportunity. He seems to have counted
on a large measure of support from the Gallo-
Romans. His success in this direction was probably
less than he had expected, owing to the antagonism
of the Catholic Church and the traditional loyalty
of the upper classes ; but Arvandus, the Praetorian
Prefect, and many others went over to his side.
Arvandus was summoned to Rome, impeached for
High Treason, and condemned to death, though
the sentence was afterwards commuted to one of
banishment. Matters now came to a crisis. An-
themius prepared an expedition, and the Bretons
of Aremorica, under King Riothamus, marched to
defend the territory north of the Loire. Riothamus
was completely defeated near Vicus Dolensis (Deols,
dep. Indre), and fled with the remnant of his army
to the Burgundians. Euric thus became master of
Tours and Bourges and of a large part of the
province of Aquitanica Prima (east of Aquitanica
Secunda, which had been occupied by the Goths
for more than fifty years) ; he was, however,
prevented from extending his conquests north of
the Loire by Count Paulus and, after the death
of Paulus in 470, by Syagrius, son of Aegidius,
with the aid of the Franks under King Childeric.
But there were prizes to be won in other parts.
In Aquitanica Prima Auvergne, whose inhabitants
xxviii

INTRODUCTION

prided themselves on their Latin blood ^ and on their
connexion ^vith Rome, still remained unconquered;
more important still were those cities of Narbonensis
which still remained Roman, especially Aries, the
headquarters of the Roman administration. But
before these could be subdued the army which
Anthemius had organised had to be met and defeated.
It crossed the Alps in 471, under the leadership
of Anthemiolus, son of the Emperor, and three other
generals, but on its way to Aries it was totally de-
feated on the left bank of the Rhone, all its generals
being slain. Euric overran and plundered the lower
Rhone-valley from Valence to the sea, but as he had
impinged on Burgundian territory he thought it
prudent to abandon for the present his conquests
in that region and to transfer his attention to two
centres of opposition farther west. A fierce war
had been waged with the Suevians in Spain for some
years. Euric himself took command, and ultimately
(about 473) made himself master of practically the
whole of the peninsula except the old home of the
Suevians in the north-west. This diversion of large
Gothic forces made it easier for the Arvernians to
defend their capital (modern Clermont-Ferrand).
The exploits of EcdiciuSj^ the youngest son of the
late Emperor Avitus, the courageous helpfulness of
his brother-in-law Apollinaris Sidonius, now Bishop
of Auvergne, and the garrison provided by the
Burgundians, who had no desire to see a further
extension of Gothic power, enabled the townsmen
to hold out for some years. But their resistance
could not go on for ever, and the Empire was

* See n. on Sidonius, Carm. 7. 139.

' See especially Sidonius, Epist. III. 3.

xxix

INTRODUCTION

too weak to defend its last strongholds in the
west.

In 472 Ricimer, whom no Emperor could satisfy
in the long run, brought about the fall and assassina-
tion of Anthemius. A few weeks later he himself
died, and before the end of the year the Emperor
whom he had set up, Olybrius (who, as we have seen,
had been Geiseric's nominee) was also no more.
Four months later (March, 473) the Burgundian
Gundobad, Ricimer's successor as Patrician, caused
the comes domesticorum Glycerius to be proclaimed
Emperor by the troops in Ravenna. This election,
however, was not recognised by the eastern Emperor,
Leo I, who nominated Julius Nepos, a nephew of
Marcellinus. Glycerius could offer no resistance,
and was put out of harm's way by being consecrated
Bishop of Salona, in Dalmatia. Nepos seems at
first to have planned vigorous measures against the
Goths, and he made the heroic Ecdicius magister
militum praese?italis and Patrician. But a change
soon occurred, the details of which are not entirely
clear. Whatever the reason, Ecdicius soon lost
his new dignities and was replaced by Orestes, a
Roman from Pannonia, who had once been Attila's
secretary. Nepos, in agreement with the Bur-
gundian king, sought to arrange terms of peace with
Euric (475). The negotiations were entrusted to a
delegation of bishops. They arranged that Auvergne
should be surrendered, while the Empire should still
rule in southern Provence, including Aries and Mar-
seilles. It was a bitter blow to the Arvernians to be
thus sacrificed by an Empire for which they had fought
and suffered so long. The rule of Rome in the west
was now crumbling to pieces. The Danubian

XXX

INTRODUCTION

provinces had actually, if not nominally, thrown off
their allegiance, and Spain was lost.

The rest of the miserable tale may be told in a few
words. Orestes rose against Nepos, compelling him
to take refuge in Dalmatia. Preferring to remain
Patrician, he elevated to the Imperial throne, on
31st October, 475, his son Romulus, who is generally
designated by the nickname given him in pity or
contempt for his youth, Augustulus. Less than a
year sufficed to end this usurping reign. The ** bar-
barian " mercenaries quartered in Italy, unable to
obtain pay from a depleted exchequer, demanded
that one third of the land should be made over to
them. When their demand was refused they rose
in rebellion and proclaimed their leader, the Scirian
Odovacar, King of Italy. Augustulus was mercifully
allowed to retire into private life. In this situation
Euric found an opportunity of winning the coveted
strip of Provence for which the Romans had recently
sacrificed Auvergne (476 or 477).

Nepos was still legally Emperor, and thus the
eastern Emperor had a colleague until the death of
Nepos in 480. Even apart from this, as modern
historians do not fail to point out, it is incorrect to
speak of the year 476 as marking the fall of the
Roman Empire in the West.^ Nevertheless, the
events of that year were of immense significance.
Italy, the ancient home of the Empire, now saw one
third of her land in possession of " barbarians,"
and began to suffer the fate which had already over-
taken the proud lands of Gaul and Africa. She had
a foreign ruler in her midst, unhampered by the
presence even of a puppet-Emperor such as Ricimer

^ See, for example, Bury, of. cit., I., p. 408.

INTRODUCTION

had liked to set up. It is true that the Roman Em-
pire continued to exist in the West even after the
death of Nepos. Legally the lack of a western
Emperor did not matter; the Emperor who ruled
in Constantinople ruled also in Italy, and even
" barbarian " rulers such as Odovacar and Theodoric
the Ostrogoth found it expedient to acknowledge
his sovereignty. But such legal technicalities and
such ostentatious deference cannot hide the fact
that the substance of power was in other hands and
that a momentous change had taken place.

II. LIFE AND WORKS OF SIDONIUS

Gaius Sollius Modestus( ?) Apollinaris Sidonius ^
was born at Lyons (Lugdunum) on the 5th of Novem-
ber ; 2 the year is uncertain, but it must have been
about A.D. 4.30.^ His family was one of considerable
distinction. His great-grandfather had held an
official position of some importance, his grandfather,
the first of his family to adopt the Christian religion,

^ In his works he is usually called simply Sollius or Sidonius.
The latter is not strictly a surname (cognomen) but a signum.
These signa, which properly denoted membership of some
association, were often adopted by persons of good birth.
Modestus has strong MS. authority in the incipit of Carm. 4,
less strong in the svbscriptiones of most books of the Letters.
It may be authentic, but it ought perhaps to be regarded with
as much suspicion as Sophronius in the name of Jerome.
The notion that it is due to a wrong inference from Epist.
IX. 12. 3 is scarcely credible.

2 Carm. 20. 1.

' This is inferred from Epist. VIII. 6. 5, which tells us that
in the year 449 he was adulescens atque adhuc nuper ex puero
On the whole, 331 or 332 seems the most likely date.
xxxii

INTRODUCTION

had been Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, and his father
held the same exalted position when Sidonius was
Uttle more than a boy.^ His mother was connected
with the distinguished house of the Aviti. We do
not know where he received his education; some
think it was partly at Lyons and partly at Aries. The
great institutions of higher learning in Gaul, which had
flourished so long under Imperial patronage, seem
by this time to have fallen on evil days ,2 but the
upper classes still retained their predilection for the
traditional training of pagan Rome as represented in
the schools of grammar and rhetoric. Sidonius went
through the usual courses in grammar, literature,
rhetoric, philosophy (with its satellites arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy, and music) ^ and law. He has
recorded the names of two of his teachers, Hoenius,*
who taught him poetry, and Eusebius,^ who taught
him philosophy. He mentions Claudianus Mamertus,
the famous author of the De Statu Animae, as having
conducted edifying philosophical disputations with
him and other ardent students ; ^ but it is not certain

1 See Epist. I. 3. 1, with note; cf. III. 12. 6, V. 9. 1 (grand-
father), V. 9. 2, VIII. 6. 5 (father).

* It is a frequent mistake to attribute to the age of Sidonius
the conditions enjoyed a Uttle earlier by Ausonius as a pro-
fessor at Bordeaux. The disturbed state of the country
and the growing financial stringency had in all probability
caused the withdrawal of active Imperial patronage from the
schools of " grammar " and rhetoric. See Roger, Uenseigne-
ment des letires dassiques d^Aitsone d Alcuin, Paris, 1905,
pp. 48-88. This excellent book has not received the atten-
tion which it deserves.

3 See Carm. 14 e'pist. § 2, Carm. 22 epist. §§ 2 sq.

* Carm. 9. 313.

^ Epist. IV. \.Z.
« Epist.l\.n.2.

xxxiii

VOL. I. B

INTRODUCTION

that Claudianus held any official post as a teacher, or
that this seminar, as one might call it, formed part of
Sidonius's regular course of higher education; it
may have taken place later and in a different place.
Certainly these teachers never made Sidonius a
philosopher. He seems to have learnt enough Greek
to construe Menander ^ without much difficulty.

A good deal of the learning acquired in the schools
at this time was somewhat superficial, and much of it
was in *' tabloid " form. Historical examples were
a regular part of the educational course ; Sidonius
was always ready to produce one or a dozen at the
shortest notice (though not always accurately) to
embellish his writings. The way in which he repeats
the same stock illustrations time after time casts some
light on the nature of the instruction received. The
case was somewhat similar with myths and legends,
which sprout up everywhere in his poetry, and with
literary criticism, in which lists of past authors with
brief ready-made descriptions were served up to the
student. Nevertheless a great deal of literature was
read, with comments on diction, style, and subject-
matter, great emphasis being placed on antiquarian
details, especially those dealing with mythology.
Sidonius shows an intimate acquaintance with many
wTiters, especially poets, and he must have acquired
much of it in his student days. Among the poets,
Virgil, Horace, Lucan, Juvenal, Martial, Statius,
Ausonius, Claudian and others were known to him at
first hand, most of them intimately.^ Among the

1 EpisL IV. 12. 1.

* It is interesting to note that he shows even in his early
woiks some knowledge of the Christian poet Prudentius. He
had also some acquaintance with Plautus, and he seems to
have been fond of Terence.
xxxiv

INTRODUCTION

prose authors whom he knew well were Pliny the
Younger, Apuleius, and Symmachus.^ But the letter
counted for more than the spirit. The authors of
the past were treasures from which to steal subject-
matter, learned allusions, and tricks of diction. The
highest compliment which could be paid by one fifth-
century writer to another was that he recalled one or
more of the ancients. Creative work in the true
sense was not fostered in the schools. The training
in rhetoric had the same tendency as that given by
the grammaticus. The study of rhetoric, though not
without good points, had for centuries emphasized the
importance of form rather than of matter. A strain-
ing after effect, an ostentatious and often unnatural
use of words, forced antithesis, far-fetched conceits,
silly paradoxes, over-elaboration and a constant
sacrifice of clearness to cleverness — these were some
of the features which this training too often produced.
They are all found abundantly in Sidonius, and,
strange to say, his contemporaries admired them,
even if they did not always understand what he
meant.

Amid the almost complete silence of Sidonius about
his formative years we read of one trivial incident
which gave him much pleasure. ^ At the beginning
of the year 449 the new consul Astyrius inaugurated
his office in an imposing ceremony at Aries, and the
young Sidonius, whose father was Praetorian Prefect
of Gaul at the time, occupied a place of great honour,

^ Perhaps Fronto should be added to this list, Cicero is
often mentioned, and some acquaintance with his works
(especially the letters Ad Familiares) is shown. There are
also indications that the works of Sallust, Livy, Seneca,
and Tacitus were to some extent known to Sidonius.

« Ejtist. VIII. 6. 5.

XXXV

INTRODUCTION

being allowed to stand beside the curule chair. There
is no doubt that the young man was already planning
to follow the family tradition by entering the govern-
ment service and attaining to high office, perhaps even
to the consulship itself, which none of his family had
reached. His prospects, already bright, were soon
greatly enhanced when he married Papianilla,
daughter of Avitus. The marriage, which was
obviously a happy one, brought him the delightful
estate of Avitacum, near Clermont-Ferrand.
Auvergne, in which it was situated, thus became " a
second fatherland " ^ to this young Lyonese, who
was destined to have a pathetic opportunity of show-
ing his devotion to it. There seem to have been four
children of the marriage, a son and three daughters. ^
Avitus was proclaimed Emperor in July, a.d. 455,

1 Carm. 17. 20.

2 The son is the ApoUinaris to whom Epist. III. 13 is ad-
dressed; of. V. 9. 4, V. 11. 3, VIII. 6. 12, IX. 1. 5. When
Count Victorius, the governor, was driven out of Auvergne
about the year 480 owing to his outrageous conduct, Apol-
linaris accompanied him in his flight to Rome. There Vic-
torius, continuing his misbehaviour, was put to death, and
Apollinaris was imprisoned at Milan. He succeeded in es-
caping and returned to Auvergne. In 507 he fought along
with other Arvemians in the disastrous battle against Clovis
at Vouille (Campus Vogladensis). About eight years later,
when his father's old see of Clermont fell vacant, he obtained
it, not, it seems, without a good deal of intrigue (in which his
wife and a sister named Alcima joined) and bribery (Greg.
Tur. Hist. Fr. III. 2). He died a few months after his in-
stallation. Sidonius ma£es no mention of Alcima, but he
mentions as daughters Severiana {Epist. II. 12. 2) and Roscia
(V. 16. 5). Mommsen, perhaps unnecessarily, doubts whether
these three names aU belong to separate persons. He also
credits Sidonius with twins. This amusing error, which has
become an article of faith with subsequent writers on Sidonius,
is due to a very unscholarly misunderstanding of Carm. 17. 3.
xxxvi

INTRODUCTION

and his proud son-in-law accompanied him to
Rome. On the first of January in the following year
the new Emperor assumed the consulship, and
Sidonius delivered to an applauding throng a long
panegyric in verse {Carmen 7). The honour of a
bronze statue in the Forum of Trajan was decreed to
the young poet, whose fortune now seemed to be
made.^ But his elation was short-lived. The fall
of Avitus and the subsequent rebellion in Gaul have
already been described.^ Sidonius might well be
excused for joining in the insurrection. Petrus, the
Imperial secretary, who seems to have arranged the
terms of capitulation, would no doubt recognise this ;
moreover he was a literary man himself,^ and he prob-
ably admired the young poet who had so recently
won the plaudits of the Romans. It seems certain
that he secured pardon for Sidonius at the earliest
opportunity. When Majorian arrived in Lyons late
in the year 458 Sidonius, already pardoned (see Carm.
4), delivered a panegyric in his honour {Carm. 5).
The concluding lines of the poem show that Majorian
had not yet fully decided the fate of Lyons and of the
insurgent Gallo-Romans. The poet seeks to arouse
his pity, and professes to detect in the Imperial
countenance a look of compassion. Whether the
poet's pleading worked on Majorian or not, it is
certain that he was merciful, though he imposed a
heavy tax as a punishment. In Carmen 13, whidi
was in all probability composed very soon after the
panegyric, Sidonius pleads for a remission of this
burden, and it seems safe to conclude that his plea

1 Carm. 8. 7-10, Epist. IX. 16. 3 m. 25-28.

2 See pp. xxi-xxiv.

3 See Carm. 3, with note on v. 5.

xxxvii

INTRODUCTION

was successful. Although it must have been very
hard to forgive the man who had conspired with
Ricimer to bring about the downfall of Avitus, the
generosity of Majorian, his innate nobility of char-
acter and his attractive personality won the heart of
Sidonius, and Majorian did what he could to cement
their friendship. In the following year or in the
year 460 we find Sidonius occupying a government
post at Rome,i ^nd in the year 461 we find that he
has the title of Count (Comes),^ which, if not given in
virtue of a definite office of state, betokened at least
that he was an accepted member of the court circle.
In that year he travelled from Auvergne to Aries,
where Majorian was sojourning after the disastrous
failure of his expedition against Geiseric,^ and he has
left us a long and interesting account of an Imperial
dinner-party at which he was a guest.* But the
end of Majorian was at hand, and in August of that
year Sidonius was once more bereft of an Imperial
patron.^

^ See note on commilitio recenti, Epist. I. 11. 3, also n.
on § 1 of the same letter. So far as is known, Sidonius had
not previously held any appointment in the Imperial civil
service. It has been conjectured that he was Iribunus et
notarius under Avitus. He may have been, but there is
absolutely no evidence of it.

2 Epist. I. 11. 13.
.' Seep. xxiv.

* Epist. I. 11. By an unfortunate inadvertence M. A.
Loyen attributes to Mr. Stevens and personally approves
the view that this party took place in a.d. 459 ; see Journ. Rom.
Stud. XXIV. (1934), p. 85. This date is quite impossible,
as the letter itseK shows (§ 10); the date 459 is suggested by
Mr. Stevens not for this dinner-party but for the one mentioned
in Epist. IX. 13. 4 (Stevens, Sidonius Apollinaris, p. 51).

' For the fall of Majorian see p. xxv.

xxxviii

INTRODUCTION

How he spent liis time in the ensuing six years
may be partially inferred from his own writings,
several of which, both poems and letters, must have
been written in this period, although anything like
an accurate dating is generally impossible.^ It
seems certain that he lived partly in the old family
home at Lyons and partly at Avitacum, and that from
time to time he visited numerous friends in different
parts of the country, passing many a happy day like
those which he spent with Tonantius Ferreolus and
ApoUinaris (Epist. II. 9). His visit to Bishop Faustus
at Riez {Carm. 16. 78-88) almost certainly took place
in the same period. It is quite possible that the
visit to the court of Theodoric II at Toulouse {Epist.
I. 2) occurred in one of these years, and he may well
have combined it with a series of visits to friends in
Bordeaux and its neighbourhood, including a stay
with Pontius Leontius at Burgus, which he celebrates
in Carm. 22. We learn from Carm. 22 epist. § 1 that
he spent a considerable time at Narbonne, where
Consentius and many other friends lived, in a.d. 462
or a very little later. In all probability this was the
occasion on which he enjoyed the hospitality which
he celebrates in Carm. 23. 434-506.

The murder of Theodoric, the accession of Euric

^ It is commonly said that Sidonius at some time held the
Praetorian Prefectship of Gaul. This idea arises from a
misinterpretation of Epist. IV. 14. 2 and 4 and from the ex-
pression fori index in the so-called Epitaphium Sidonii found
in the Codex Matritensis (10th or 11th century). I cordially
agree with those who impugn the authority of this " epitaph "
(see especially Stevens, p. 166, n. 2, and p. 211); but even if
it were an authentic document one could not say that its
vague language proves that Sidonius was Praetorian Prefect.
Fori index was possibly suggested by Epist. IX. 3 v. 32,
iuta gubemat, which refers to the Prefecture of the City.

xxxix

INTRODUCTION

(466), and the elevation of Anthemius to the Imperial
throne (April 12, 467) have been related elsewhere.^
Early in the new reign Sidonius was commissioned
by the Arvernians to present to the Emperor a
petition, the subject of which he does not disclose.
He has described his journey in a long and interesting
letter (I. 5), which was supplemented early in the
following year by another (I. 9). He arrived in
Rome at a time when the whole city was joyfully
celebrating the marriage of Ricimer to Alypia, the
daughter of Anthemius. To further the business
with which he was entrusted, Sidonius attached
himself to two powerful senators, Gennadius Avienus
and Caecina Basilius. As the 1st of January, 468,
approached, on which date Anthemius was going to
assume the consulship, Basilius suggested to Sidonius
that it would be profitable for him to " bring out the
old Muse " and compose a panegyric. This he did,
and once more he stood before a Roman throng to
sing the praises of an emperor-consul. He must
surely have spoken with a lump in his throat as he
thought of that other New Year's Day, twelve years
before, when he had stood before a similar gathering
and prophesied a glorious reign for Avitus. But his
facile Muse did all that was necessary, and his reward
came promptly in his appointment as Prefect of the
City. This preferment may have been designed to
please the Gallo-Roman nobles as well as to recognise
the virtues of the panegyric, but it obviously gave him.
great delight.^ The office of Prefect of the City was
still one of the most exalted in the Empire. The
Prefect was President of the Senate and also head
of the judicature and of the police both in Rome and

1 See pp. xxvii f. ^ gee EpisL I. 9. 8.

xl

INTRODUCTION

for a hundred miles around it. Besides this he was
controller of the food-supply. This was a worrying
responsibility in a period when the hostility of Geiseric
might at any time cause a shortage, and we read of
one occasion when Sidonius feared an outcry from the
populace and anxiously awaited the arrival of five
ship-loads of wheat and honey .^

He tells us no more of his prefectship, which he
held for a year. We may imagine that he was glad
to be freed from a rather thankless office and to leave
Rome with the prestige of an ex-prefect and the
honourable title of Patrician. He had another reason
for preferring Gaul to Rome in the year 469, for it
was then that his friend Arvandus was brought to
Rome for trial on a serious charge and so conducted
himself that it was impossible to save him.^ Arvan-
dus had become Praetorian Prefect of Gaul in a.d.
464, and had given such satisfaction at first that his
term of office was increased to five years. But his
conduct had undergone a change, and his oppression
and malversation could no longer be borne. He was
arrested by order of the Council of the Seven Pro-
vinces and sent to Rome for trial. Meanwhile the
three delegates sent from Gaul to prosecute him
were furnished with evidence which made the charge
against him infinitely more serious. A letter from
him to Euric had been intercepted, in which he
advised the Gothic king to abandon his pacific
attitude toward the " Greek Emperor " (Anthemius),
to attack the Bretons, and to arrange a division of
Gaul between the Goths and the Burgundians.

1 Epist. I. 10. 2.

* On the case of Arvandus see Epist. I. 7 ; also p. xxviii
above.

xli

INTRODUCTION

Sidonius was in an embarrassing position. The three
accusers sent from Gaul were old friends of his, but
he had also been on friendly terms with Arvandus.
Along with some others he did all that was possible
to help the prisoner by advising him to make no
admissions and to be wary of any traps that might be
set for him. Their advice was received with scorn
by Arvandus, whose arrogance and self-confidence
almost passed belief. Sidonius left Rome before the
trial came on. Arvandus was condemned on a
charge of High Treason and sentenced to death, but
the sentence was commuted to one of exile.

We next find Sidonius (apparently in a.d. 469 or
470) enthroned at Clermont as Bishop of the Arverni.
We do not know what immediately led to this change,
but he was not the first or the last noble who aban-
doned the honours of state for the responsibilities of
a see. There were various reasons which made such
a translation desirable. The weakening power of
the Empire was bitter to all who loved the Roman
name. As the Imperial power declined, it was the
Church above all that upheld the standard of Roman
civilisation and maintained and diffused the Roman
spirit amid " barbarian " surroundings. To Sidonius
this must have meant much. Again, the bishop was
a great refuge in time of trouble. He could aid the
distressed in a very special way and stand up to the
oppressor, whether Roman official or barbarian
potentate. It had long been the custom to vest
certain judicial powers in him. He also administered
large funds, which might be used both for the relief
of distresses and for the furtherance of the Catholic
religion, but which too often tempted greedy in-
triguers to possess themselves of a diocese. In Gaul,
xlii

INTRODUCTION

Euric, a fanatical Arian, was hostile to the orthodox
church, seeing in it not only the promoter of a hated
creed but the fosterer of the Roman, " anti-barbar-
ian " spirit. There was, therefore, plenty of work to
challenge the zeal of a patriot who cared also for
religion. In countries like Gaul it was not merely
the man of piety that was required for this task. It
was often not only a great advantage but a necessity
to have as bishop a man of rank and wealth, a man
who could face even Euric himself and command
respect, and who could, through his experience as an
administrator backed by his own generosity, provide
the means to resist aggression and to help the ruined
and homeless outcasts whose numbers were being
multiplied by the excesses of friend and foe alike.
Sidonius must have felt all this. At the same
time he felt how ill-fitted he was for the task. A
sense of his own unworthiness to be a spiritual guide
oppressed him not only now but to the end. The
worldly ambitions which were characteristic of his
class might often be patriotic, but they were not
set upon the " City of God." Moreover he was now
asked to become a bishop so suddenly that any
adequate preparation for his ecclesiastical duties was
out of the question. In entering the Church he
would be entering a world which was strange to him,
and in which he would have much both to learn and to
unlearn. And he was no theologian. His poem to
Faustus {Carm. 16) shows not only an imperfect
knowledge of the Scriptures but a naive unorthodoxy
which would have drawn from a less tolerant ecclesi-
astic a horrified rebuke. He remained a close friend
both of the heretical Faustus and of Claudianus
Mamertus, who dedicated to Sidonius the De Statu

xliii

INTRODUCTION

Animae, in which the views of Faustus are vigorously
assailed. This impartiality does credit to his heart ;
at the same time it cannot be said with certainty that
he really understood what the controversy was all
about. Nevertheless, the poem to Faustus shows
Sidonius as a devout Christian with a profound
admiration for the saintly character, and there is
plenty of other evidence that along with all his en-
thusiasm for the pomp and pageantry of power and
amid all his literary preoccupation with the products
of heathen mythology he retained a sense of humble
dependence on a divine Providence. It is easy to
be cynical and point out that the position of a bishop
gave both dignity and (what offices of state did not
always give) comparative safety. It must, however,
be remembered that he felt both then and even later
the glamour of the government service, and as far as
we know he might have looked forward to further
distinctions, perhaps even to the most coveted honour
of all, that of the consulship. Be that as it may, we
cannot deny that he was renouncing much; his
domestic and social life could not be quite the same
as before, his liberty was curtailed, his wealth might
have to be sacrificed, and there were dangerous times
ahead in Auvergne, which he cannot have failed in
some measure to foresee and to fear. The insinua-
tion of some historians that Sidonius sought the
episcopal throne, and that he did so from motives
of worldly prudence, is not justified either by his
owTi words 1 or by intrinsic probability.

It is sometimes held that Sidonius spent some time
in the lower ranks of the clergy before being installed
as bishop ; ^ but the evidence for this is not conclusive.

^ See Stevens, Sidonius Apollinaris, p. 130, n. 2.
^ See Mommsen in Luetjohann's edition, p. xlviii.
xhv

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes a layman was rushed through the lower
degrees, 1 but in some cases even this formality
was dispensed with. Sidonius took his new status
very seriously. He resolved to write no more worldly
verses. 2 This was a great renunciation for a man
who had for so many years found delight in thrum-
ming on the antique lyre. On the whole, his austere
vow was kept as well as could reasonably be expected.
There was indeed sterner work to be done, even
apart from the ordinary duties of spiritual oversight.
Auvergne, with all its ancient pride in the Roman
name, was in imminent danger of going the way of
other parts of Gaul and falling into the clutches of
the barbarian. Romans, even members of the old
governing class, were more and more inclined to
acquiesce in the new order of things, and even to
accept official positions under the sovereign Goth or
the nominally federate Burgundian. In the parts of
the country which still remained to the Empire there
were traitors to the Roman name. Seronatus,^
undeterred by the fate of Arvandus, freely en-
couraged Gothic encroachment, and did what he
could to curry favour with Euric and to further his
designs. He was indeed, thanks to Arvernian loyalty,

^ Ambrose " passed from baptism to the episcopate in
the course of a week " (C. H. Turner in Cambridge Medieval
History, p. 152). Sidonius himself, when entrusted with
the task of choosing a bishop for the see of Bourges, chose a
layman : see Epist. VII. 9, where he reproduces the address
which he delivered on the occasion. In the circumstances his
choice was not an unreasonable one.

* EpisL IX. 12. 1. He speaks of verses in general, but he
obviously did not mean to debar himself from writing poems
with a Christian content. See also IX. 16. w. 41-64, es-
pecially 55 f.

» EpisL II. 1, V. 13, VII. 7. 2.

xlv

INTRODUCTION

brought to justice and executed, but this was only a
sHght set-back to the sinister schemes of Euric.
Sidonius soon found that the see of Clermont called
for all the qualities of a man and a patriot. Un-
fortunately it is impossible to follow with any cer-
tainty the course of the struggle, which began prob-
ably in A.D. 471 and ended four years later with the
sacrifice of Auvergne by the Empire for a transitory
gain. The Goths besieged the city every year,
retiring on the approach of winter after wasting the
land. There were sallies and some fierce fighting,
but the pressure went on relentlessly. The Bur-
gundians had sent a garrison to help the besieged,
Ecdicius, brother-in-law of Sidonius, raised a force
mostly at his own expense and himself performed
prodigies of valour,^ and the good bishop did all that
he could to animate the defenders and to relieve the
distressed. That they were distressed there is no
doubt. In all probability the citizens who resided
outside the walls, when they had not fled to safer
regions, had taken refuge within, and these, along
with the Burgundians and other troops, were difficult
to house as well as to feed. The Burgundians seem
to have been troublesome,^ and the Goths had seen to
it that supplies were scarce. As things grew worse,
Sidonius could not help feeling that the troubles
must be a divine judgment for some unknown sin; 3
and indeed the people had grown slack in their public
prayers.* He therefore instituted at Clermont
the special prayers, or " Rogations," which Bishop
Mamertus was said to have used with miraculous

1 See EpisL III. 3. 3-8. « Episl. III. 4. 1.

3 Epist. III. 4. 2 ; VII. 10 (11). 2.
* Efi-^t. V. 14. 2.
xlvi

INTRODUCTION

effect at Vienne. But although these, as he tells us,
had a good effect, circumstances were too strong;
as their privations increased and no help came, the
people murmured more and more, and all the efforts
of their bishop could not quell the talk of surrender.
At this juncture Sidonius besought the saintly priest
Constantius to come from Lyons to his aid. Aged
though he was, Constantius braved the rigours of a
severe winter and a difficult journey to encourage the
waverers, and succeeded in nerving them to further
resistance.^ Ecdicius seems to have been absent for
a considerable time at the Burgundian court.^ Per-
haps he was trying to persuade the king to launch a
great offensive against the Goths. The language of
Sidonius is vague (he does not even say what court
Ecdicius was visiting) ; but we must remember that
his letters were revised and modified before publica-
tion and that the original wording may have been
much more explicit.

In the year 474 the Quaestor Licinianus arrived in
Gaul, carrying with him the patent of the patriciate,
which, with the Mastership of the Forces, was now
conferred upon Ecdicius. Sidonius was delighted at
this ,3 and he reposed great hopes in the coming mis-
sion of Licinianus to the Gothic court.* We know
nothing of that mission except that it gained no
concession from Euric, at least as far as Auvergne was
concerned. If the appointment conferred on Ec-
dicius was meant to convince the Goth that the
Emperor Nepos was organising a formidable resist-
ance, it failed dismally. It seems safe to say that the
speedy supersession of Ecdicius, the declared enemy

1 EpisL III. 2. 2 Epist. III. 3. 9.

8 Epist. V. 16. « Epist. III. 7. 2 sqq.

xlvii

INTRODUCTION

of the Goths, by a more innocuous magister militum
betokened a change of policy in the direction of
conciliation with Euric. But the history of all these
doings is so obscure that we need not dwell longer
upon them. The end came in the following year
(475), when Rome ceded Auvergne to the Goths in
order to retain or regain ^ a small strip of Provence.
At this betrayal of the most loyal part of Gaul after
years of suffering for the Roman cause Sidonius was
filled with consternation. A moving letter written
to Bishop Graecus of Marseilles, who had had a hand
in the drafting of the treaty ,2 voices his indignation
and scorn. " Our slavery," he says, " is the price that
has been paid for the security of others." ^

Clermont was occupied by Victorius, a Roman in
the Gothic service, now created Count of Auvergne.
He spared the town, no doubt by order of Euric, and
probably pardoned all but the most prominent of the
resisters. It was impossible to ignore the uncom-
promising hostility of the bishop. Sidonius was
confined in the fortress of Livia, near Carcassonne.*
He seems to have been given some titular duties to
alleviate the indignity of his imprisonment,^ and

^ It is just possible that the Goths had been in possession of
the whole of Provence for two years and that the comer of
it which included Aries was regained by the bargain of a.d.
475; see Stevens, pp. 209 sqq.

2 The part played by Epiphanius and the four other
bishops (BasUius of Aix, Leontius of Aries, Faustus of Riez,
Graecus of Marseilles) in the making of the treaty is a vexed
question. See Stevens, pp. 207-209.

3 E'pist. VII. 7.

* Liviana, according to the Peutiger Table; Sidonius
speaks only of moenia Liviana. It has been identified with
the modem Capendu.

^ Epist. IX. 3. 3 per officii imaginem solo patrio exa^tus.
xlviii

INTRODUCTION

although he complained bitterly of his lot, he does
not seem to have been badly treated. He had a
friend at the Gothic court, Leo of Narbonne,^ who
was now a trusted minister of Euric, discharging
duties similar to those discharged for the Roman
Emperor by the quaestor sacri palatii.^ Leo asked
him to transcribe the life of Apollonius of Tyana by
Philostratus, probably wishing to give him a task
which would take his mind off his troubles. When
this was completed and sent to Leo Sidonius had
already won his freedom through the good offices of
his friend (possibly before the end of the year 476).
His movements after his release are not entirely
clear. It seems certain that he was not allowed to
return to Clermont immediately. ^ Sooner or later he
went to Bordeaux, and eventually he appeared as a
suppliant at the court of Euric* Two months passed
without an answer to his suit.^ At this point he
sent to his friend Lampridius,* who enjoyed the
favour of the Gothic king, a letter containing a poem
of 59 hendecasyllabic lines, in which he not only
makes reference to his own plight but draws an
impressive picture of the Gothic court, crowded with
embassies from near and far — even from distant
Persia — all anxious to win the gracious favour of the

1 See note on Carm. 9. 314.

2 On this office see note on Carm. 1. 25. In Epist. VIII.
3. 3 Leo is described as the king's mouthpiece.

' Epist. VIII. 9. 3, ago adhuc exulem.

* Epist. VIII. 9. Sidonius does not say definitely that the
court was then at Bordeaux. It is possible that he had gone
on from Bordeaux to Toulouse, the Gothic capital.

' Perhaps he had already had one audience; semel visos,
Epist. VIlI. 9. 5. V. 17, is obscure, but may mean this.

• See note on Carm. 9. 314.

xlix

INTRODUCTION

mighty Euric.^ It is almost certain that he wished
this poem to be brought to the notice of the king.2
Whatever its effect may have been, it is certain that
Sidonius was eventually allowed to return to Clermont
and to resume his duties as bishop.

The events of the past few years had left their mark
upon him. Truer to the traditions of his class than
most of his friends had been, he had clung wistfully,
hoping against hope, to his faith in the Empire.
Even as late as the year 474 he regarded the consul-
ship as a dazzling prize.^ He had indeed come to see
that worldly ambition is not everything, and he main-
tained in his later years that the humblest of God's
ministers held a rank more exalted than the highest
dignities of state.* But in his eyes the two views
were not inconsistent. Church and State were
merged in the great unity of Romanism. To main-
tain the Catholic faith against Arianism and to
maintain the Roman civilisation against barbarism —
these were sacred duties bound up with the heritage
into which he had been born. The sense of that
heritage was strong in Sidonius. As a Gallo-Roman
noble he had been cradled and nurtured in the tradi-
tions of the past, and it was a matter of pride as well
as of conviction to uphold them. The whole ten-

^ Mommsen has some interesting pages on this poem :
Reden u. Avfsdtze, pp. 136 sqq.

2 It is absurd to suppose that Euric was ignorant of Latin.
It is true that he used an interpreter when dealing with
Epiphanius (Ennod., Vit. Epiph. 90); but that need not mean
more than that he did not feel quite capable of deahng with
the highly pohshed language of the Roman envoy ; see Roger,
op. cit., p. 58. We need not, of course, assume that he
personally read the poem of Sidonius, but if he did, he
probably understood its general drift.

3 EpisL V. 16. 4. * EpisL VII. 12. 4.

INTRODUCTION

dency of his education had been to turn his gaze
backward. The literature and the history of bygone
days were his inspiration, and he could not imagine
any culture worth having which was not drawn from
that all-sufficient source. Deep down in his heart was
the vision of the Empire, a spiritual as well as a
material force, appointed from of old to guard all
that was most precious. In that last struggle of the
Arvernians the heroic bishop was fighting for this
idealised Rome, majestic even in her day of humilia-
tion. Amid all the despair of those times there had
lurked a hope that somehow the Empire might arise
from its ashes and assert itself. But such self-
deception could continue no longer. He had to
realise that now, for better or worse, the " barbarian "
kings were the inheritors of the Empire in the West.
Perhaps, as he surveyed the scene at Euric's court,
even he dimly perceived that the change now going on
was " not so much the Germanisation of the Romans
as the Romanisation of the Germans." ^ Rome was
not a spent force, even in the West. But for Sido-
nius the revulsion was too violent. Although the
pictures sometimes drawn of his despair after his
return to Clermont have been exaggerated through
misunderstanding of his Latin combined with ar-
bitrary dating of his letters, there can be little doubt
that the shattering of his hopes and ideals told heavily
upon him. But he did not break down utterly. He
had many friends who did what they could to
cheer him. The preparation of his letters for
publication helped to divert him, though it must have
given him many a pang by calling up memories of
other days. Above all there were his episcopal

^ Moiumsen, Rolen u. Aujmtze, p. 139.

li

INTRODUCTION

duties. All the evidence goes to show that he was
loved and trusted by his flock, that he took a helpful
interest in their various concerns, and that he was
assiduous in the performance of his ecclesiastical
functions.^ The governor, Count Victorius, who was
a Catholic, showed himself helpful and sympathetic —
but alas ! only for a time. One would like to think
that Sidonius did not live to see the change which
happened. It is just possible that he was spared the
distress which his son brought upon his house.^ We
do not know the year of his death ; a.d. 479 seems the
earliest date to which it can be assigned, but a some-
what later date seems probable. ^ He was canonised,
and in Clermont his feast is still celebrated on the
21st of August.

Sidonius is one of the many writers who " lisped
in numbers, for the numbers came." He wrote
poetry from early years,* and some of it was cir-
culated among his friends, but there is no evidence
that any of it was published before the collection still
extant appeared. That collection falls into two parts,
which were probably published separately but sub-
sequently combined. The first part consists of the

* For the conduct of Sidonius as bishop see Chaix, Vol. II,
Stevens, c. VII. The present volume does not contain any
of the letters written by Sidonius as bishop; these begin in
Book III.

* See p. xxxvi, n. 2.

^ Mommsen supports 479, and is followed by Duchesne and
Stein. This dating, however, depends too much on an arbi-
trary handling of the worthless "epitaph " (see p. xxxix, n. 1),
Aprunculus, the successor of Sidonius in the see, died in a.d.
490, but the date of his installation is unknown. The last
letter of Sidonius is assigned to a.d. 479 or 480; see, however,
p. lix, n. 2.

* Carm. 9. 9 sq.; Epist. V. 21, IX. 16. 3 w. 41 sqq.
Hi

INTRODUCTION

panegyrics mentioned above, which occur in reverse
order,^ together with prefaces and dedications.
The second professedly consists of youthful poems.
The panegyrics are constructed on the formal lines
laid down by the rhetoricians and hitherto carried
out most thoroughly in poetry by Claudian. Sidonius
observes all the pitiable conventions of the genre,
and succeeds in writing three " poems " which for
prolonged insipidity, absurdity, and futility would
be hard to beat. It is often very difficult to see what
he means — all the more difficult because he so
frequently means very little. It is true that he
occasionally brings forth a striking epigram — all the
Latin poets could do that, — but these are by no means
always as new as some of their admirers seem to think.
A tenacious memory has given him plenty of material
to steal from his predecessors. If imitation is the
sincerest flattery, never — not even by Silius Italicus
— ^were previous writers honoured with a more
thorough-going adulation. But the imitation does
not go beneath the surface. Some of it is merely
mechanical. The old mythological machinery is
made to work overtime ; its figures are now rusty,
creaking puppets, but he dresses them up in garish
tinsel and spangles and makes them present a
ludicrous caricature of their old-time splendour. It
is pathetic to think that such mouldy antiquarianism
was considered a worthy tribute to the master of the

^ If this order is due to Sidonius himself, he may have de-
sired to put the recently delivered panegyric on Anthemius
in the place of honour as a comphment to the Emperor:
but this is doubtful. Klotz points out that the order of the
prose Panegyrici Latini is similarly reversed, except that
Pliny, the model of them all, is naturally put first.

Uii

INTRODUCTION

Roman world. The thought, when there is any
worth speaking of, is thin, or at least unoriginal. The
great object is not to think noble thoughts but to
coin clever phrases. The ancients are ransacked for
suggestions of all kinds, but their features are dis-
guised by all the virtuosity of the schools, verbal
jingles and bad puns, forced contrasts, unnatural
use of words, straining after " point " in season and
out of season. It cannot be said that any one of
these faults was new; but in Sidonius they occur
with such devastating frequency and with such
grotesque exaggeration that the reader is often
driven to distraction. The English language is quite
incapable of reproducing all the oddities of these
poems. The consequence is that, however feeble
the translator, they must needs seem more tolerable
in his version than in the original. Having said all
this — and one could easily say a great deal more to
the same effect — one feels bound to admit that there
are a few places where the author deviates into sense,
and even into real feeling not ineptly expressed, as
when he exposes the sorrows of Lyons in the pane-
gyric on Majorian or the character and prowess of
the Arvenians in the panegyric on Avitus. There are
also some descriptive touches and sentimental out-
bursts which suggest that the poet might have been
more worthy of his calling if he had lived in an age of
less depraved taste. But even these better morsels
are soon spoilt by some bizarre absurdity. The chief
value of the panegyrics — apart from the light which
they incidentally throw on the literary training and
ideals of the fifth century — lies in their historical
information, which is of considerable importance.

The second part of the poems (Carm. 9-24) was
liv

INTRODUCTION

dedicated to Felix.^ The dedicatory poem is a most
extraordinary production. It is 346 lines long and
consists mostly of a list (wath various embellishments)
of the subjects (mostly mythological) which he is
not going to treat and the writers whose themes or
style he is not going to reproduce. The other poems
are of various kinds. Some are in hexameters, the
others are in elegiacs or hendecasyllabics. There
are a few epigrams, not unpleasing, especially nos.
12 and 17. No. 13 is the poem already mentioned
in which he beseeches Majorian to remit the tax.
Of the two epitkalamia (nos. 11 and 15), each of
considerable length, the best that can be said is that
they are not the only absurd experiments in that
conventional form to be found in European literature.
The first one, with its tortuous conceits, is a nerve-
racking problem for the would-be interpreter ; in the
second one Sidonius, after parading unblushingly his

1 Sidonius tells us that Felix had asked him to gather to-
gether in a book the " trifles " which he had written and circu-
lated in his younger days (Carm. 9. 9-11). In iw. 318 fiF. hesaya
that he rarely commits such efforts to the permanent medium
of a papjnrus-sheet, and when he does so the sheet is always
a short one (not a roll); in other words, those " measures of
his barren Muse " {v. 318) are not, as a rule, carefully pre-
served, and they are always short. This passage has often
been misunderstood. Some authorities, ignoring rarae,
take the passage to mean " I am entrusting these poems
(for pubhcation) to a short roll," and infer that the long poems
22 and 23 cannot have been included in the original collec-
tion, but were added in a second edition. The fact is, in aU
probability, that 22 and 23 were specially written for in-
clusion in the published collection, and when Sidonius speaks
about his brevis charta he is thinking of the more youthful
poems which form the main body of the book : indeed the
two longer poems may possibly not have been written at the
time when he wrote the prefatory poem to Felix.

Iv

INTRODUCTION

ignorance of philosophy and astronomy, show^s one or
two genial traits which the jaded reader will scarcely
appreciate. It is rather inappropriately followed
by a very pious poem to Bishop Faustus. The
description of Jonah in the whale's belly (vv. 25-30)
is a striking instance of the poet's uncanny powers.
It is, unfortunately, quite possible that Faustus and
some other contemporaries admired its ingenuity.
But the poem is not all as bad as that part. Al-
though Sidonius can never wholly rid himself of his
mannerisms, the second half (and indeed some of the
earlier parts also) does at least suggest some sincere
feeling, and the parts dealing with Lerins and Riez
have an interest of their own. No. 22 is a very
showy and obscure description of the ** Burgus " of
Pontius Leontius. Sidonius has no idea that the
reader of what purports to be a description of a
house might desire to learn what the house was really
like rather than what the author could achieve as a
verbal trickster. There is also the inevitable parade
of gods and other mythological figures. Hie multus tu,
Jrater, eris (y. 220 ; see note ad loc.) is, unfortunately,
the best thing in this poem of 235 lines. No. 23 is
a tour deforce, 512 hendecasyllabics addressed to his
friend Consentius of Narbonne. Though it has a
fair share of the usual faults, it shows some skill
and is probably the most interesting of all the longer
poems. The description of the battered city,
recently occupied by Theodoric, has a certain
effectiveness. The praise of Theodoric may profit-
ably be compared with Epist. I. 2. Pantomimic
performances, which obviously enjoyed a considerable
vogue even in those Christian times, are described
in a notable passage. The picture of the chariot-
Ivi

INTRODUCTION

race is a wonderfully vigorous effort, based on Statius ;
unfortunately it is marred by some obscurity in the
climax. The last part of the poem gives an interest-
ing and valuable picture of the social life enjoyed by
the Gallo-Roman nobles. The collection ends with
an epilogue speeding the book on its way from
the author to friends in different parts of the
country.

Poem 22 (see the prefatory letter, § 1) was written
not long after the occupation of Narbonne by Theo-
doric in a.d. 462. Probably the visit to Narbonne
there mentioned is the same as the one mentioned
in no. 23, which must in any case have been written
not earlier than the year 462 and not later than 466
(the date of Theodoric's death). If these two poems
were specially written for inclusion in the published
edition (see p. Iv, n. 1), we may plausibly assign
the publication of poems 9-24 approximately to
A.D. 463. The panegyrics must, of course, have been
published after the delivery of the panegyric to
Anthemius in the year 468. It is customary to
assign them to 469 The letters also contain a
number of poems. Several of them, in accordance
with the stern resolution which Sidonius took on
obtaining his bishopric, are of a religious cast, but
these, with the exception of the poem in IX. 16. 3,
are all very short. It may be of some interest, as
the statements made on the subject are generally
rather vague, to examine the letters with the object
of discovering how seriously Sidonius took his vow
to keep the old pagan Muse in check. Book II
contains an inscription for the church built by
Bishop Patiens at Lyons (II. 10. 4) and also an epitaph
(II. 8. 3), which has no Christian content ; but as the

INTRODUCTION

letters in this book seem all to have been written
before his episcopate, they are not relevant to our
enquiry. Apart from these, there are five poems in
the first seven books. Three of these, all with a
Christian tone (IV. 11. 6, a lament for Claudianus
Mamertus, IV. 18. 5, an inscription for the rebuilt
church of St. Martin at Tours, and VII. 17. 2, an
epitaph on the monk Abraham), may be assigned to
the period of his bishopric, but the other two (III.
12. 5, a Christian epitaph on his grandfather, and
IV. 8. 5, a trivial inscription for a drinking-cup)
cannot be assigned to the same time with any
probabihty. Thus the complete collection of his
letters as originally planned contains no evidence of
" pagan " poetry written by Sidonius after becoming
bishop. The first of the two supplementary books
contains the poem already mentioned describing
Euric's court (VIII. 9.5);^ it has no trace of Christian
influence. In the same book (VIII. 11. 3) Sidonius
quotes a poem written in his old style which certainly
belongs to his pre-episcopal days. So far he has
only once broken his vow, and that one breach is so
venial that it can scarcely be counted against him.
Book IX is interesting. In the 12th letter, written
" three Olympiads," i.e. 12 years, after his entry
into holy orders (§ 2), he tells Oresius of the vow
he had made on entering the ranks of the clergy to
give up his old habit of versifying. This letter is
placed, surely of set purpose, immediately before one
written several years later, which contains a breach
of his rule. Then, after a kindly letter to a young
man with literary ambitions, there comes another in
which his rule is broken. Next there comes, in the

1 See pp. xlix 8q[.
Iviii

INTRODUCTION

last letter of all, a sort of palinode in verse, in which,
after sketching his secular career and mentioning the
honorary statue which his poetry had brought him,
he speaks in penitent tones of his early verses and
registers a vow no more to indulge in verse-writing,
unless it be to celebrate the holy martyrs. ^ The
way in which these last few letters expose his lapse
from grace is as good as a sermon. Oresius had asked
him for a poem {Epist. 12). After explaining that
he had renounced such frivolities Sidonius promises to
see if he can find any old compositions to satisfy his
friend. Nothing of the kind is given in the letter.
In the next letter (IX. 13) we find that Tonantius has
asked him for a poem in Asclepiads which he might
recite at a dinner-party. Sidonius with some show
of diffidence sends him 28 Asclepiad verses in which
he protests that he cannot now fitly satisfy such a
request. This is a small lapse, but the mischief has
been done ; the memory of his happy days in the
Muses' company comes upon him and he goes on to
quote a poem of 120 lines which he had composed at
a dinner-party in the reign of Majorian.^ In letter
15 he relapses more completely into the bad old
ways. Gelasius has heard of the verses written to
Tonantius and wants some for himself. Sidonius

^ No doubt in imitation of Prudentius. So far as is known
he never carried out this ambition.

* In § 6 Sidonius says that this poem has been lying in a book-
box for about 20 years. Most authorities think that the
dinner-party must have occurred at Aries in 461, like the one
described in Epist. I. 11. In that case 481 is an approximate
date for the letter to Tonantius; even if we make allowance
for the vagueness of " about 20 " we can scarcely make it
earher than 479, the year in which many persons would place
the death of Sidonius. Mr. Stevens, however (p. 51).- would
assign the dinner party to the year 459.

lix

INTRODUCTION

composes a poem specially for him, 55 lines praising
contemporary writers, and at the end he hints that
he might be induced to write some more poetry for
his friend. Then comes the great renunciation in the
last letter of the book. Thus we find that the poem
to Euric, which is scarcely to be counted, the very
short poem in Epist. IX. 13, and the longer one in no.
15 are the only breaches of his self-denying rule, as
far as one can gather from his correspondence. It
is a very creditable record.

It is not known in what year Sidonius began to
prepare his letters for publication ; a.d. 469 is as
likely a date as any.^ The idea was suggested by his
friend Constantius of Lyons, to whom the work was
dedicated in the introductory letter. It is certain
that the collection was published in instalments,
and not improbable that each book was published

^ This date was suggested by Mommsen. At first sight
it conflicts with Epist. I. 1. 4, in which Sidonius says that he
has a long-estabUshed reputation as a poet. But in the first
place there can be no doubt that copies of the panegyrics
were circulated very soon after these poems were recited
{Carm. VIII, which accompanied a copy of the panegyric
on Avitus sent to Priscus Valerianus, says, of course with some
exaggeration, that the applause which greeted the poem is
still echoing through Rome); in the second place, it is quite
likely that Carmina 9-24 were first pubhshed about a.d. 463;
see p. Ivii. Again, those who would put the publication of
the first book of the letters after the restoration of Sidonius
to the see of Clermont {i.e. about a.d. 477) forget that his
attitude to his secular poetry had then changed, and he
would scarcely have spoken of it with the self-satisfaction
which he betrays in Epist. I. 1. 4. But the question cannot
be definitely settled. As it is incredible that any book of
the letters was published durmg the siege of Clermont, Book
III, which mentions the siege, must be assigned to a subse-
quent date.

Ix

INTRODUCTION

separately.^ The last letter of Book VII is an
epilogue addressed to Constantius. There the
work was meant to end. But the letters had
aroused much interest ; there was a demand for a
supplement, and more and more friends wished to
be represented in the collection by letters addressed
to them. At the instance of Petronius he added an
eighth book.2 In the last letter of this book, which
is, like the epilogue of Book VII, addressed to Con-
stantius, he says that he has now no letters left
which are worth publication, but he gives a broad hint
that with a little more time he might work up a few,
and that a ninth book is not an impossibility. Fir-
minus urged him to produce another book, pleading
that Pliny had written nine books. ^ Sidonius com-
plied, and added a book of sixteen letters which
are by no means the least interesting in the collection.
With that volume the published correspondence
closes.

Sidonius revised his old letters for publication and
added several specially written for inclusion in the
collection. His chief model is Pliny,* though Sym-
machus also had a great influence on him, especially

^ The evidence on this head, which is rather complicated,
will be best considered in the commentary as the passages
bearing upon it occur; it may, however, be pointed out here
that it is wrong to cite Epist. I. 1. 1 as evidence that Book I
was published separately. There Sidonius agrees to a request
to include in one " volumen" all his letters that merit publi-
cation. Volumen must therefore mean "book" in the sense
of a complete work (a meaning for which there is excellent
authority). Those who take it as "book" in the sense of a
division of a larger work ignore the word omnes.

2 See VIII. 1. For Petronius see note on I. 7. 4.

» IX. 1. 1.

* Epist. IV. 22. 2 ; ego Plinio ut discipulus assurgo.

Ixi

INTRODUCTION

in the later books > The mere fact that nearly every
letter has only a single theme is, as in the case of
Pliny, a sure sign that they were considerably
modified ; real letters to friends are not generally so
limited.2 Much that we should have liked to know
about the age and its personalities must have been
pruned away. Many of the letters are simply
miniature panegyrics ; derogatory remarks are much
rarer than one would expect them to be in the
genuine familiar correspondence of an average human
being. The many letters to bishops assume a very
humble, sometimes abject, tone. Nearly every
letter is assiduously worked up according to the
principles of contemporary rhetorical teaching. It is
impossible here to give any adequate idea of the
ostentatious combination of stylistic elaboration
with sesquipedalian verbiage, Frontonian archaisms,
weird neologisms, and verbal jingles which makes
the correspondence such a nerve-wracking conglo-
meration. But it would be a mistake to regard the
style and diction of Sidonius as something new and
without precedent. He was in the main only carry-
ing out with misguided zeal and a conspicuous lack
of taste the principles which had been taught in the
schools of rhetoric for centuries. These principles
were often sound enough, and might be helpful to
people who really had something to say, but even as
the young men in Quintihan's time had seized on

^ There are some signs of the influence of Cicero, Ad Fam.
The more homely and informal style of the letters to Atticus
can scarcely have appealed to him.

* An interesting exception is the reference to the unstudious
habits of his son Apollinaris in Episl. IX. 1.5; but we may
be sure that this is inserted in imitation of Cicero's words
about young Marcus.

Ixii

INTRODUCTION

Seneca's dulcia viiia^ for imitation and ignored the
qualities which made him a great writer, so also
after his time the young students and, too often,
their professors as well, were inclined to regard com-
position as a field for the exploitation of specious
" tricks of the trade," which became ends in them-
selves and were developed in the most fantastic
manner. This tendency increased as time went on.
Sidonius was not an original genius : he was a con-
scious artist working with traditional materials and
seeking only to exploit to the uttermost limit all the
** tips " which he had derived from the mechanical
teaching of the schools and from his reading of earlier
writers. The result is a reductio ad ahsurdiim of all the
resources of rhetoric and a travesty of the Latin
language. But although he had detractors, most of
his educated contemporaries seem to have admired
him. So many recherche effects had never before
been found concentrated in such small space. If he
took hberties with the meaning of words, that only
increased the dazzHng glamour of it all. If he was
obscure — well, anyhow it was great art, great art,
my masters ! It is pathetic to find Ruricius humbly
trying to imitate him though compelled to admit
that he did not understand him.^ One may be sure
that in preparing the letters for publication Sidonius
elaborated and multiplied their mystifying artifices ;
but most of them must have been rather terrible even
in their original form. There are some cases where
he writes more simply, but his manner never com-
pletely leaves him.

Sidonius, imitating Pliny, arranges his letters with-

1 Quintilian X. 1. 129.
3 Ruric. Epist. II. 26. 3.

ixiii

INTRODUCTION

out regard to chronological order, though all the
letters contained in Books I and II seem to have been
originally written before his election to the bishopric.
There are some signs of intentional grouping. The
whole of Book VI and the first eleven letters of Book
VII are addressed to bishops ; the same is true of
letters 13-15 in Book VIII and 2-4 in Book IX. In
the latter part of Book IX, as we have seen, the
letters seem to be arranged according to a set plan.
The collection includes a letter from Claudianus
Mamertus (IV. 2), which is followed by the reply of
Sidonius. There is one letter to Papianilla ; all the
other recipients are men. Not many people are
honoured by more than one letter, as the number of
persons anxious to have their names perpetuated by
inclusion in the correspondence was very large and
Sidonius was anxious to oblige them.

Whatever one may think about their style and
diction, the letters of Sidonius are an invaluable
source of information on many aspects of the life of
his time. It is true that one is often tempted to
sigh for information which he withholds and to upbraid
him for telling us so little when he might have told
so much. The appetising lists sometimes drawn up
of subjects on which he might well have thrown light
make one's mouth water .^ But he did not set out to
write a history, and he was unfitted for such a task.^
His views were limited. It is doubtful if he really
thought or cared much about the social evils and
distresses of his day until he was brought into contact

^ See, for example, Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, II.
pp. 372 f.

^ On his conscious unfitness for historical writing, see below,
p. Ixvi.

Ixiv

INTRODUCTION

with them as a bishop ; and even then perhaps he
only partially realised them. For a good part of his
life his horizon was bounded by the pride and pre-
judices of his class ; indeed his aristocratic pride some-
times breaks out rather ludicrously even in his later
years. He was not a deep thinker, but he was a
keen observer of external details. Many of his
descriptions, in spite of their pretentious language,
are both vivid and picturesque. From his pages we
gather much knowledge of the lives led by the Gallo-
Roman nobility as the Empire in the West tottered
to its fall. Its pleasures, its good-fellowship, its
ambitions, and sometimes its lack of ambition, its often
narrow and pedantic but not unwholesome interests,
its apparent indifference to many of the most terrible
things going on around it, all pass before our eyes.
We find also some valuable pictures of the " barbar-
ians " who were taking over the Roman heritage.
Here and there we get pleasing sidelights on the lives
of great clerics, and we are helped to realise the
power, mostly beneficent, wielded by the great
Gallic bishops and priests in those troubled times.
For these and many other glimpses we may well be
grateful. As for Sidonius himself, when one has
recovered from the exhaustion caused by wrestling
with his showy pedantry one cannot repress a liking
for him. Amid all his prejudices, his time-serving
pliability at certain junctures, his excessive pride
in his lineage and his ill-disguised Hterary vanity,
one can discern a sympathetic nature and a simple
goodness of heart. He accepted great responsibilities
at a testing time and rose nobly to the occasion. He
walked humbly before God, and all his pride fell
from him as he contemplated his unfitness for his high

Ixv

INTRODUCTION

calling. Though strictly orthodox he is untouched
by the bitterness which so often showed itself in the
religious controversies of the day. He abhors the
religion of the Jews, but he can admire a Jew as a
man, and he dares to say so.^ No one without
goodness and charm could have had such a circle of
devoted friends as he had. He could write in all
sincerity to Bishop Faustus : " Thanks be to God, not
even my enemies can charge me with half-hearted
friendship " (Epist. IX. 9. 5).

Besides his poems and letters Sidonius wrote a
number of short speeches or addresses (called by him
contestatiunculae), a copy of which he sent to Bishop
Megethius {Epist. VIII. 3). It is not certain that he
published them. Gregory of Tours (Hist. Fr. II.
22) refers to masses (missae) composed by him. He
was urged to write on the war with Attila and es-
pecially on the siege of Orleans and the wonderful
achievements of its bishop, Anianus. He found such
a large task too exacting, but promised to celebrate
the glories of Anianus {Epist. VHI. 15). There is
no evidence that this projected work was ever written.
He declined to write a historical work which Leo had
suggested to him {Epist. IV. 22). He did not trans-
late the life of Apollonius of Tyana, as is often said,
but merely transcribed it (see p. xlix). He wrote
many poems besides those which have come down
to us, but it is not certain that he published any
collection of them.^

1 Epist. III. 4. 1 ; cf. VI. 11. 1.

2 In Epist. II. 8. 2, before quoting the epitaph on Philo-
mathia, he says to Desideratus : quam (sc. neiiiam) si non
satis improbas, ceteris epigramriiatum meoriim voluminibus ap-
plicandam mercennarius hyhliopola suscipiet. Ceteris is loosely

Ixvi

INTRODUCTION

The numerous manuscripts of Sidonius seem all to
be derived from a single archetype of no great
antiquity. They suffer from extensive dislocations,
interpolations, corruptions, " corrections " and
lacunae, but as they can very often be successfully
used to check one another a text in the main satis-
factory^ can be evolved from them. It is difficult to
construct a convincing stemma codicum^ but we may
divide the MSS. into four classes on the basis of
certain dislocations and of differences in their con-
tents. I have added to the MSS. most used by Luet-

used : he means " the existing books (or perhaps ' rolls ')
of my epigrams." It is probably a case of " transferred epi-
thet " ; ceterorum would have been more logical : " the books
containing my other epigrams."

Klotz (in Pauly-Wissowa, R.-E., s.v. Sidonius) understands
epigrammata to mean " small poems," hence " trifling verses "
(nugae). He takes the reference to be to the extant Carmina.
This view may well be correct, although there does not seem
to be any passage in Sidonius where the word epigramma must
necessarily have such an extended meaning. It generally
means a short poem; see especially Carm. 22 epist. § 6, where
paucitas is mentioned as characteristic of an epigramma;
cf. Epist. IV. 8. 4, IX. 13. 2 v. 16, IX. 14. 6. The extended
meaning may be present in Epist. IX. 12. 3, IX. 13. 6 (where
there is a competition in the production of epigrammata and
Sidonius composes a poem of 120 lines), and IX. 16 v. 56.
It is certainly found in Alcimus Avitus, who humbly speaks
of a quite lengthy poem as an epigramma; see especially
Poem. VI. prol. (p. 274 v. 7, Peiper). The source of this use
is probably Pliny, Epist. IV. 14. 9.

1 The stemma of Leo (in Luetjohann's edition, p. xli)
perhaps comes as near to the truth as it is possible to get.
It is repeated with the addition of the codices N and R by
M. C. Burke, De Apollinaris Sidonii codice nondum tractato,
Munich, 1911.

Ixvii

INTRODUCTION

johann and Mohr the codex R.^ It is impossible
to mention all the codices.

Class I. (containing all the writings in the proper
order, except that in Epist. IX letters 6 and
7 are put after 9).
C. Matritensis Ee 102 (formerly at Cluni),
Madrid. X-XI cent. Much interpolated.
Akin to this MS. is Vaticanus 3421. X cent.

Class II. (All with disturbance in the order of the
letters in Books VI and VII ; some contain
all the works, some Epist. alone, some Epist.
and some poems).
F. Parisinus 9551. XII cent.

Class III. Intermediate between I and II.
P. Parisinus 2781. X-XI cent.

Class IV. (a superior class, but with large lacunae.

Some contain only Epist.)
T. Laurentianus plut. XLV. 23, Florence.

XI-XII cent.
M. Marcianus 554, Florence. X cent. {Epist.

and Carm. I-VIII.)
L. Laudianus lat. 104, Oxford. Epist. only.

IX cent. The best MS.
N. Parisinus 18584. Epist. only. X cent.

Closely akin to L, but with more lacunae

and numerous " corrections."
V. Vaticanus \1^^. Epist. only. Xcent. Muti-
lated at the beginning and in the middle.

* See note 1, p. Ixvii. Dr. M. Tyson has kindly ascertained
for me that this Rheims codex has safely survived the Great
War. My knowledge of its readings is derived entirely from
Burke's pamphlet.

Ixviii

INTRODUCTION

R. Remensis 413, Rheims. Epist. only. IX-X
cent. Closely akin to V. V and R. are
less closely related to L than N is.

The fullest account of variant readings is given in
Luetjohann's edition. Mohr gives a shorter but
very useful apparatus criticus.

The following is a short list of works useful to
the student of Sidonius. An excellent and, on
the historical side, much more comprehensive
bibliography will be found in the work of Stevens
mentioned below, pp. 216-220.

Text : Critical Editions.

Gai Sollii Apolli?iaris Sidonii epistulae et carmina.
Recens. et emend. C. Luetjohann. (Monu-
menta Germaniae Historica Auct. Antiquiss.,
VIII). BeroUni, MDCCCLXXXVII. On the
death of Luetjohann the editing was com-
pleted by Mojnmsen and Leo, with the assist-
ance of U. von Wilamowitz-MoellendorfF
and Buecheler. Mommsen added a life of
Sidonius and very useful indices of persons
and places. An index of words and linguistic
usages, helpful as far as it goes, was compiled
by E. Grupe, and a list of parallel passages by
E. Geisler. Interesting information about
this edition will be found in Mommsen und
Wilamowitz'. Brief wechsel, Berlin, 1935 (nu-
merous letters : see the index to the vol.
s.v. Sidoniusij).

C Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius. Recens. P. Mohr.
Lipsiae, MDCCCLXXXXV.

Ixix

INTRODUCTION

Text with Commentary.

Caii Sollii Apollinaris Sidonii opera. lo. Savaro

recog. et librum commentarium adiecit.

11. editio auctior et emendatior. Parisiis,

MDCIX.
Ill-digested learning, with much irrelevance,

but useful in several places.
C. Sol. Apollin. Sidonii opera, lac. Sirmondi cura et

studio recognita notisque illustrata. Editio

secunda. Parisiis, MDCLII.

A masterpiece, invaluable for its notes on subject-
matter : the only pity is that they are not more
numerous. The commentary is reprinted in Migne's
Patrologia Latina, LVIII.

There are some useful notes in the edition with
French translation by Gregoire and Collombet, 3 vols.,
Lyon-Paris, 1836. but as the text is antiquated and
the translation contemptible, the work is of no
great value.

Translations.

Sidonius has very seldom been translated into any
language. The only rendering worth mention is a
translation into English of the letters alone by O. M.
Dalton, 2 vols., Oxford, 1915. This translation,
though it does not profess to follow the Latin closely,
has been justly welcomed by students of Sidonius.
It is accompanied by a valuable introduction and
some helpful notes. Besides the effort of Gregoire
and Collombet, mentioned above, there is another
French translation (not markedly superior) by Baret
in Nisard's Collection des auteurs latins (with text:

Ixx

INTRODUCTION

along with Ausonius and Venantius Fortunatus),
Paris, 1887.

Life and Works of Sidonius.

Chaix, L. -A. Saint Sidoine Apollhiaire et son siecle.

2 vols. Clermont-Ferrand, 1866.
Uncritical, but of considerable value.
Fertig, M. Cajus Sollius ApoUinaris Sidonius u.

seine Zeit, nach seinen Werken dargestellt. 3

parts. Wiirzburg, 1845-6, Passau, 1848.
Germain, A. Essai litteraire et historique sur

ApoUinaris Sidonius. Paris, 1840.
Kaufmann, G. Die Werke des Cajus Sollius

ApoUinaris Sidonius als eine Quelle fur die

Geschichte seiner Zeit. Gottingen, 1864.
Mommsen, T. ApoUinaris Sidonius u. seine Zeit.

In Reden u. Aufsatze, Berlin, 1905 etc.
Also in Luetjohann's edition; see above.
Stevens, C. E. Sidonius ApoUinaris and his Age.

Oxford, 1933.
A stimulating and valuable work, to which

every reader must feel much indebted, even if

he cannot everjrwhere agree with the author.

There are useful articles on Sidonius in the Herzog-
Hauck Realencyclopddie fur protestantische Theologie
und Kirche (by Arnold), the Pauly-Wissowa Real-
encycl. d. klass. Altertumsnissenschaft (by Klotz), the
histories of Latin Literature by Teuffel (vol. 3, 6th
ed. by Kroll and Skutsch) and Schanz-Hosius-
Kriiger (IV. 2) ; also in Ebert's Allgemeine Gesch. d.
Litter atur d. Mittelalters im Abendlaiide, 2nd ed., vol.
I, pp. 419-448.

Ixxi

INTRODUCTION

History and Civilisation of the Fifth Century.

Bury, J. B. History of the later Roman Empire.

Vol. I, London, 1923.
Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. I. 2nd ed..

Cambridge, 1924.
Dill, S. Roman Society in the last Century of the

Western Empire. 2nd ed., Lond., 1899, etc.
A very readable and illuminating work, with

some excellent pages on Sidonius and his

times.
Duchesne, L. Early History of the Christian Church,

Vol. III. Translated by C. Jenkins. London,

1924.
Fauriel, C. Histoire de la Gaule meridionale sous

les conquer ants germains. Vol. I, Paris,

1836.
Gibbon. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,

cc. 35 and 36 (in vols. Ill and IV of Bury's

edition, Lond., 1909).
This part scarcely shows Gibbon at his best.
Hodgkin, T. Italy and her Invaders. Vols. I and

(especially) H. 2nd ed., Lond., 1892.
Marked by good sense and an absence of the

vagueness and evasiveness too often found

in historical works on the fifth century.
Roger, M. L'enseignement des lettres classiques

d'Ausone a Alcuin. Paris, 1910.
Seeck, O. Geschichte d. Untergangs d. Antiken Welt.

Vol. VI. Stuttgart, 1920. Also articles in

Pauly-Wissowa, R.-E., on various personages,

e.g. Avitus, Anthemius, Euric.
Seeck 's work is valuable, but prejudiced and

often unreliable.

Ixxii

INTRODUCTION

Stein, E. Geschichte d, spdtromischen Retches.
I Band. Vienna, 1928.
A very able and important work, though one may
not always agree with it.
Sundwall, J. Westromische Studien. Berlin, 1915.
With a valuable prosopography of the fifth cen-
tury.

The Language of Sidonius.

No comprehensive treatment of this subject exists.
Besides Grupe's contribution to Luetjohann's edition
the following pamphlets may be mentioned :

Engelbrecht, A. Uniersuchungen iiher die Spracke

des Claudianus Mamertus. Vienna, 1885.
Grupe, E. Zur Spracke d. Apoll. Sidonius. Zabern,

1892.
Stresses the influence of legal language on the

vocabulary of Sidonius.
Kretschmann, H. De latinitate C. Sollii Apoll.

Sidonii. 2 parts. Memel, 1870, 1872.
Mohr, P. Zu Apoll. Sidonius. Bremerhaven, 1886.
Muller, M. De Apoll. Sidonii latinitate. Halle,

1888.

Miscellaneous.

Bitschofsky, R. De C. Sollii Apoll. Sidonii siudiis

Statianis. Vienna, 1881.
Brakman, G. Sidoniana et Boethiana. Utrecht,

1904.
Geisler, E. De Apoll. Sidonii siudiis. Breslau,

1885.

Ixxiii

INTRODUCTION

Holland, R. Studia Sidoniana. Leipzig, 1905.
Kraemer, M. Res libraria cadentis aniiqiiitaiis

Ausonii et Apoll. Sidonii exemplis illustrata.

Marburg, 1909.
Schuster, M. De C. Sollii Apoll. Sidonii imiiafioni-

hus studiisque Horatianis. Vienna etc., 1908.
Semple, W. H. Quaestiones exegeticae Sidonianae.

Cambridge, 1930.
Discusses the interpretation of various passages.

A very helpful work.

Ixxiv

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE
TEXTUAL AND EXPLANA-
TORY NOTES

add. = addidi{t).

C.M.H. = Cambridge Medieval History.

Class. Quart, loc. cit. = Classical Quarterly xxviii.

(January, 1934).
codd. = codices, i.e. all the MSS. (or all the other

MSS.) whose readmgs seem worth recording.^
def. = defendit.

dist. = distinod{t) (" punctuated ").
edit. = editio.

Other abbreviations, when not self-evident, refer
to authorities mentioned in the bibliographical part
of the Introduction.

* When a reading stands alone after a colon {e.g. sat es
Mohr : satis), codd. is to be supplied.

IxTV

THE POEMS OF GAIUS SOLLIUS
APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS

GAT SOLLII APOLIJNARIS
SIDONII CARMINA

PRAEFATIO PANEGYRICI DICTI ANTHEMIO
AVGVSTO BIS CONSVLI

Cum iuvenem super astra lovem natura locaret

susciperetque novus regna vetusta deus,
certavere suum venerari numina numen

disparibusque modis par cecinere sophos.
Mars clangente tuba patris praeconia dixit 5

laudavitque sono fulmina fulmineo ;
Areas et Arcitenens fidibus strepuere sonoris,

doctior hie eitharae pulsibus, ille lyrae ;
Castalidumque chorus vario modulamine plausit,

earminibus, eannis, poRiee, voce, pede. 10

sed post caelicolas etiam mediocria fertur

cantica semideum sustinuisse deus.
tunc Faunis Dryades Satyrisque Mimallones aptae

fuderunt lepidum, rustica turba, melos.
alta cicuticines liquerunt Maenala Panes 15

postque chelyn placuit fistula rauca lovi.

^ Mercury (Hermes), who was bom in a cave of M. Cyllene,
in Ai'cadia.

2 ApoUo; cf. 23. 266.

2

THE POEMS OF GAIUS SOLLIUS
APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS

I

PREFACE TO THE PANEGYRIC IN HONOUR
OF THE EMPEROR ANTHEMIUS, CONSUL
FOR THE SECOND TIME

When nature established the young Jupiter above
the stars and the new god was entering upon an
ancient sovereignty, all the deities vied in paying
worship to their deity, and uttered in diverse
measures the same " bravo." Mars with trumpet's
blare acclaimed his sire and with thunderous din
praised the thunderbolts. The Arcadian^ and the
Archer God^ sounded the clanging strings, the one
more skilled to strike the zither, the other the lyre.
Castalia's maiden band gave forth their plaudits in
varied strains with songs, reeds, thumb, voice and
foot. But after the denizens of heaven, 'tis said, the
god brooked even the inferior chants of demigods ;
then Dryads in union with Fauns, Mimallones ^ with
Satyrs, a rustic multitude, poured forth a sprightly
song. The Pans that sound the hemlock-reed left
high Maenalus, and after the lyre the hoarse pipe

• Nymph-attendants of Bacchus.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

hos inter Chiron, ad plectra sonantia saltans,

flexit inepta sui membra facetus equi ;
semivir audiri meruit meruitque placere,

quamvis hinnitum, dum canit, ille daret. 20

ergo sacrum dives et pauper lingua litabat

summaque tunc voti victima cantus erat.
sic nos, o Caesar, nostri spes maxima saecli,

post magnos proceres parvula tura damus,
audacter docto coram Victore canentes, 25

aut Phoebi aut vestro qui solet ore loqui ;
qui licet aeterna sit vobis quaestor in aula,

aeternum nobis ille magister erit.
ergo colat variae te, princeps, hostia linguae ;

nam nova templa tibi pectora nostra facis. 30

II

PANEGYRICVS

Auspicio et numero fasces, Auguste, secundos
erige et effulgens trabealis mole metalli
annum pande novum consul vetus ac sine fastu

^ This idea recurs in 14. 27-30.

* Victor, quaestor sacri palatii under Anthemius. The
holder of this office acted as the Emperor's mouthpiece in the
Consistory, the Senate, and elsewhere. He was responsible
for the drafting of laws and of Imperial answers to petitions.
Rutilius Namatianus (1, 172) likewise describes the quaestor
as " speaking with the mouth of the Emperor." Cf. Claudian,
Fl. Mall. Cons. 35, and below, C. 5. 569 ; also Epist. viii. 3. 3.
Phoebi ore refers to Victor's poetry.

^ vestro = tuo; so in the next line vohis = tibi. There
seems to be no certain instance of this use before the third
century. It is quite common in Sidonius.

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

pleased Jove's ears. Amid this throng Chiron,
dancing to the sounding quill, moved his ungainly
horse-limbs elegantly, and that beast-man earned a
hearing and found grace even though he neighed
in the midst of his singing.^

So tongues rich and poor made an acceptable
offering, and the greatest tribute in that day's
sacrifice was song. In like manner, O Caesar,
chiefest hope of our time, I come after great lords
and offer thee humble incense, boldly singing my
lay in presence of the learned Victor ,2 vi^ho is wont to
speak either with the voice of Phoebus or with thine ,^
and who, though he is quaestor in thine everlasting
court, shall everlastingly be my master.* So, my
prince, let offering of diverse utterance pay worship
to thee ; for thou makest our hearts new temples for
thy habitation.

II

PANEGYRICS

Raise up, Augustus, thy second ^ fasces, seconded
by Fortune ; gleaming with mass of gold upon thy
robe do thou, an old consul, begin the new year,
and deem it no disgrace to grace ^ the roll of office

* i.e. although he is your subordinate, he shall always be
my master. M agister implies " teacher," but there is a play
on the use of the word in the titles of various Imperial officials.
Victor may have been one of Sidonius' teachers at Lyons or
elsewhere, but the present passage does not prove it.

^ Recited to the Senate on Jan. 1, a.d. 468. See Introd.,
p. xl, and Epist. 1. 9.

* A play (as old as Ovid) on the two meanings of secundus,
" second " and " propitious." Anthemius had been consul
for the first time in a.d. 455.

' The translator has done his poor best to reproduce one
part of the verbal jingle fastu, fastis, fastigatus.

5

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

scribere bis fastis ; quamquam diademate crinem
fastigatus eas umerosque ex more priorum 5

includat Sarrana chlamys, te picta togarum
purpura plus capiat, quia res est semper ab aevo
rara frequens consul, tuque o cui laurea, lane,
annua debetur, religa torpore soluto
quavis fronde comas, subita nee luce pavescas 10

principis aut rerum credas elementa moveri.
nil natura novat : sol hie quoque venit ab ortu.

Hie est, o proceres, petiit quem Romula virtus
et quem vester amor ; cui se ceu victa procellis
atque carens rectore ratis respublica fractam 15

intulit, ut digno melius flectenda magistro,
ne tempestates, ne te, pirata, timeret.
te prece ruricola expetiit, te foedere iunctus
adsensu, te castra tubis, te curia plausu,
te punctis scripsere tribus collegaque misit 20

te nobis regnumque tibi ; suffragia tot sunt
quanta legit mundus. fateor, trepidavimus omnes,
ne vellet collega pius permittere voto
publica vota tuo. credet ventura propago ?
in nos ut possint, princeps, sic cuncta licere, 25

24-26. dist. ego. Cf. 7. 310, 421 sq.

^ i.e. of Tyrian purple. Gallienus was the first emperor to
wear the chlamys at Rome (Hist. Aug., Gallien, 16. 4).

^ i.e. the toga picta (purple with gold embroidery), which,
with the tunica palmata, had become the official garb of the
consuls, and is here contrasted with the Imperial garb,

' pirata : with special reference to Geiseric. Cf . v. 354.

*• Joed, iunct., i.e., the "barbarian" foederati (Introd.,
p. X, n. 2). Their assent was important.

6

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

twice with thy name. Althousrh thou walkest with
a diadem surmounting thy iiair and thy shoulders
are covered by a Tyrian ^ mantle after the fashion
of thy predecessors, yet may the bright purple
of the consul's gown^ charm thee more ; for repeated
consulships have from all time been rare. And
thou, Janus, to whom a laurel wreath is due every
year, dispel thy lethargy, bind thy locks with any
foliage ; and be not affrighted by the sudden radiance
of our prince, nor deem that the elements are in up-
heaval. Nature is making no change ; this day's
Sun also has come from the East.

This, my Lords, is the man for whom Rome's
brave spirit and your love did yearn, the man to
whom our commonwealth, like a ship overcome by
tempests and without a pilot, hath committed her
broken frame, to be more deftly guided by a worthy
steersman, that she may no more fear storm or
pirate.^ The country-dweller's prayer, the good-
will of the leagued peoples,* the trumpet in the camp,
the plaudits in the senate-house all called for thee ;
for thee have the tribes recorded their suffrages,^
and thy colleague hath consigned thee to us and the
sovereignty to thee : all the votes that the whole
world can muster are for thee. I confess we w^ere all
sore disquieted lest thine honest colleague should
commit to thine own decision what all the people
had decided. Will future generations believe it? —
to ensure, O Prince, that this complete power over

• A mere rhetorical flourish. The mention of the army,
the Senate, and the eastern Emperor is quite correct, as
they all played some part in the election of a western
Emperor, but the people might merely *' acclaim " him
after his election. Cf. 6. 386-388.

7

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

de te non totum licuit tibi. facta priorum
exsuperas, Auguste Leo ; nam regna superstat
qui regnare iubet : melius respublica vestra
nunc erit una magis, quae sic est facta duorum.

Salve, sceptrorum columen, regina Orientis, 30
orbis Roma tui, rerum mihi principe misso
iam non Eoo solum veneranda Quiriti,
imperii sedes, sed plus pretiosa quod exstas
imperii genetrix. Rhodopen quae portat et

Haemum,
Thracum terra tua est, heroum fertilis ora. 35

excipit hie natos glacies et matris ab alvo
artus infantum molles nix civica durat.
pectore vix alitur quisquam, sed ab ubere tractus
plus potat per vulnus equum ; sic lacte relicto
virtutem gens tota bibit. crevere parumper : 40

mox pugnam ludunt iaculis ; hos suggerit illis
nutrix plaga iocos. pueri venatibus apti
lustra feris vacuant, rapto ditata inventus
iura colit gladii, consunmnatamque senectam
non ferro finire pudet : tali ordine vitae 45

cives Martis agunt. at tu circumflua ponto
Europae atque Asiae commissam carpis utrimque

* Leo, the eastern Emperor, who nominated Anthemius
as Emperor of the West.

2 Constantinople was called New Rome in a law of Constan-
tine. Other titles were " Eastern Rome " and " Second
Rome."

' Plus often usurped the fimctions of magis, as magis
usurped those of potius. Sed magis is used for " but rather "
even in the poetry of the classical period. Here sed plus has
the same meaning. Plus quam -is sometimes found in the
8

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

us should be thine, full power over thyself was denied
thee. Augustus Leo,^ thou dost surpass the deeds
of thy forerunners ; for he who can command a man
to reign towers above regal power. Now your
government shall be more perfectly one, having thus
become a government of two.

All hail to thee, pillar of sceptred power, Queen of
the East, Rome of thy hemisphere,^ no longer to be
worshipped by the eastern citizen alone, now that
thou hast sent me a sovereign prince — O home of
Empire, and more precious in that thou appearest
before the world as Empire's mother! The land of
the Thracians, whereon Rhodope and Haemus rest,
is thine, a region fruitful of heroes. Here children
are born into a world of ice, and their native snow
hardens the soft limbs of infants even from the
mother's womb. Scarce anyone is reared at the
breast; rather ^ is he dragged from the maternal
bosom to suck from a horse through a wound;
thus deserting milk the whole race drinks in
courage. They have grown but a short time, and
anon they play at battle with javelins; this sport
is prompted by the wounds that suckled them.
The boys, gifted hunters, clear the dens of their
beasts; the young men, enriched with plunder,
honour the laws of the sword ; and when their old
age has reached its fullness not to end it with
steel is a disgrace. Thus do these countrymen
of Mars order their lives. But thou, surrounded by
the sea, dost imbibe a tempered blend of Europe's
and Asia's air, commingled from two sides;

sense of potius quam. Another use of plus = magis is to
form comparatives {e.g. v. 33 above). This is common in
Sidonius : see Schmalz-Hofmann, Syntax, pp. 463 f.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

temperiem ; nam Bistonios Aquilonis hiatus
proxima Calchidici sensim tuba temperat Euri.
interea te Susa tremunt ac supplice cultu 50

flee tit Achaemenius lunatum Persa tiaram.
Indus odorifero crinem madefaetus amomo
in tua lucra feris exarmat guttur alumnis,
ut pandum dependat ebur ; sic trunea reportat
Bosphoreis elephas inglorius ora tributis. 55

porrigis ingentem spatiosis moenibus urbem,
quam tamen angustam populus facit ; itur in aequor
molibus et veteres tellus nova eontrahit undas ;
namque Dicarcheae translatus pulvis harenae
intratis solidatur aquis durataque massa 60

sustinet advectos peregrine in gurgite campos.
sic te dispositam spectantemque undique portus,
vallatam pelago terrarum commoda cingunt.
fortunata sat es Romae partita triuraphos,
et iam non querimur : valeat divisio regni. 65

concordant lancis partes ; duni pondera nostra
suscipis, aequasti.

Tali tu civis ab urbe
Procopio genitore micas, cui prisca propago
Augustis venit a proavis ; quem dicere digno
64. sat es Mohr : satis.

^ Sidonius means Calcliedonius or Chalcedonius, from Chal-
cedon, which faced Constantinople on the Asiatic side of the
strait.

2 Lunatus may mean "moon-shaped" or "crescent-
shaped," but among the many forms of the tiara I have not
found one really entitled to such a description. The epithet
may refer to the ornamentation. Martial uses lunatus for
" decorated with crescents."

^ Dicarchus, or Dicaearchus, was the founder of Puteoli.
The reference is to pulvis Puieolanus {pozzolana)^ a volcanic
earth found near Puteoli. The cement made from it sets
hard when submerged in water. The " invasion " of the sea
10

^/

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

for the Thraciiui blasts of Aquilo are gradually
softened by the breath of Eurus' trumpet, wafted
from Calchis^ hard by. Meanwhile Susa trembles
before thee, and the Persian of Achaemenes' race
in suppliant guise inclines his crescent-tiara.^ The
Indian, with hair steeped in fragrant balm, disarms
for thy profit the throat of his land's wild denizens,
that he may make payment of curved ivory ; thus the
elephant takes home ingloriously a mouth shorn of
the tribute yielded to the Bosphorus. Thou dost
spread out a great city of spacious walls, yet doth the
multitude therein make its bounds too narrow;
so the sea is invaded with massive masonry and new
land cramps the old waters; for the dusty sand of
Puteoli 3 is brought thither and made solid by enter-
ing the water, and the hardened mass bears upon it
imported plains amid an alien flood. Thus art thou
ordered; on all sides thou beholdest harbours, and,
walled in as thou art by the sea, thou art surrounded
by all the blessings of earth. Right fortunate art
thou in having shared Rome's triumphs, and now we
regret it no longer ; farewell to the division of the
empire ! The two sides of the balance are poised ;
by taking over our weights thou hast made all even.
^v, A citizen from such a city, thou shinest also with
the lustre of thy father Procopius,* whose ancient
lineage springs from imperial ancestors, a man

here described took place at various points of the shore when
the -walls of Constantino were no longer able to contain the
whole population. For subsequent extensions and for the
harbours see Bury, Later Rom. Emp. I. pp. 70-73.

* Procopius, a Galatian who rose to be magister militum per
Orientem and patrician. He obviously claimed descent from
the Procopius who was a so-called Emperor for a few months
(365-6), and who seems to have been related to the house of
Ck)n8tantine.

II

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

non datur eloquio, nee si modo surgat Averno 70

qui cantu flexit seopulos digitisque eanoris
eompulit auritas ad pleetrum currere silvas,
eum starent Hebri latiees eursuque ligato
fluminis attoniti earmen magis unda sitiret.

Huie quondam iuveni reparatio eredita paeis 75
Assyriae ; stupuit primis se Parthus in annis
eonsilium non ferre senis ; conterritus haesit
quisque sedet sub rege satraps : ita vinxerat omnes
legati genius, tremuerunt Medica rura,
quaeque draconigenae portas non clauserat hosti, 80
turn demum Babylon nimis est sibi visa patere.
partibus at postquam statuit nova formula foedus
Procopio dictante magis, iuratur ab illis
ignis et unda deus, nee non rata paeta futura
hie divos testatur avos. Chaldaeus in extis 85

pontificum de more senex arcana peregit
murmura ; gemmantem pateram rex ipse retentans
fudit turicremis carchesia cernuus aris.
suscipit hinc reducem duplicati culmen honoris :

^ Orpheus. There is a similar passage in 23. 178-94.

^ Sidonius likes elliptical uses of magis and plus. The point
here seems to be " the river was thirsty rather than tiiirst-
quenching." Cf. 23. 194.

^ i.e. to Procopius.
12

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

whom no eloquence could worthily celebrate — not
even if from Avernus that bard^ should arise who
once with his song swayed rocks and with his tuneful
fingers impelled the woods to hasten, all ears, to the
sounding quill, while the waters of Hebrus stood still
and, its flow held fast, the waves of the entranced
river were strangely athirst ^ for song.

To him 3 once in his youth was committed the
restoring of peace with Assyria.* The Parthian was
amazed that he had no power to withstand the aged
wisdom of those youthful years. Every satrap that
sat below the king faltered in terror, so strongly had
the envoy's genius gripped them. The Median
realms trembled, and Babylon, that had not closed
her gates against the serpent-born foe, ^ now at last
thought herself too widely opened. Then when a
treaty had been established between them on new
terms, recited by Procopius to the Magi, they took
oath by their gods, fire and water, and he called his
divine ancestors to witness that the bargain should
be upheld. An aged Chaldaean over a victim's
entrails, in the manner of the pontiffs, muttered the
mystic words, and the king himself, holding a jewelled
bowl, stooped and poured out cups over the incense-
burning altar. When the envoy returned, the
eminence of a twofold honour welcomed him;

* Assyriae, Parthus, Medica. All these refer to the Persian
empire. This embassy negotiated terms of peace with
Varahran V in a.d. 422 after a war caused by the persecutions
of Christians in Persia. Bury, II. pp. 4 f.

^ Alexander the Great; see w. 121-3. Babylon admitted
Alexander without a struggle. Sidonius absurdly implies
that she showed contempt for his impending attack by
keeping her gates open. A similar idea occurs in v. 449
(unless we read strident).

13

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

patricius nee non peditumque equitumque magister
praeficitur eastris, ubi Tauri claustra eohereens 91
Aethiopasque vagos belli terrore relegans
gurgite pacato famulum spectaret Orontem.

Huic socer Anthemius, praefectus, consul et idem,
iudiciis populos atque annum nomine rexit. 95

purpureos Fortuna viros cum murice semper
prosequitur ; solum hoc tantum mutatur in illis,
ut regnet qui consul erat. sed omittimus omnes :
iam tu ad plectra veni, tritus cui casside crinis
ad diadema venit, rutilum cui Caesaris ostrum 100
deposit© thorace datiu* sceptroque replenda
mucrone est vacuata manus. cunabula vestra
imperii fulsere notis et praescia tellus
aurea converse promisit saecula fetu.
te nascente ferunt exorto flumina melle 105

dulcatis cunctata vadis oleique liquores
isse per attonitas baca pendente trapetas.

^ He became magister utriiisque militiae (or m. peditum et
pquitum or m. peditum equitumque), receiving the eastern com-
mand. In the eastern Empire there were five such officers,
two "in the Presence" and three with special districts assigned
to them. They all received the patriciate sooner or later. In
the west there were originally only two such magistri militum
(this, or vmg. militiae, is a handy abbreviation which may be
used of all such officers). These were called magister peditum
and mag. equitum respectively, but as the magister peditum held
a superior command over both infantry and cavalry he came
to be called magister peditum equitumque or mugister uiriusqv^
militiae. By and by this title was extended to the magister
equitum, and his all-powerful superior is specially designated
as Patricius; he was " The Patrician " par excellence, not only
commander-in-chief but leading adviser and right-hand man
of the Emperor. In this sense the title was borne by Aetius,
Ricimer, and others. [This seems to be the prevalent view ;
see, however. Professor Norman Baynes in Journ. Rom.
Stud. XII. (1922), pp. 224-229.J

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

Patrician now and Master of Horse and Foot,^ he was
set in command of camps where he must needs hold
the barriers of Taurus and force the roaming Ethi-
opians over the border by the terror of war and
behold Orontes with calmed flood subservient to
his will.

His wife's father was Anthemius,^ who, as prefect
and likewise consul, ordered peoples by his judgments
and the year by his name. Men of the purple ^ are
ever attended by Fortune with purple ready to
bestow; the only change that happens to them is
that he who was consul becomes sovereign. But I pass
over all the others : come thou to my lyre, thou whose
hair frayed by the warrior's helmet came^ to wear the
diadem, thou who hast laid aside the breastplate to
receive the glowing purple of a Caesar, and whose
hand hath been emptied of the sword to be filled with
the sceptre. Thy cradle gleamed with tokens of
imperial power, and the prophetic earth, altering her
progeny, gave promise of a golden age. They tell
how, at thy birth, honey appeared, making rivers
flow tardily with sweetened waters, and oil ran
through the amazed mills while the ohve-berry still

* Aathemius, a leading figure in the early part of the fifth
century ; comes sacrarum largitionum 400, magister officiorvm
404, praefectus praetorio orientis 404-415, consul 405, patricius
not later than 406 ; regent for the young Theodosius II on the
death of Arcadius (408). He built the new walls of Con-
stantinople (413).

' i.e. of Imperial or consular family : for the association
of purple with the consulship see v. 7 n., also 24. 98. The
meaning is that consulships and the Imperial throne are the
natural destiny of such persons.

* venit is Historic Present, which Sidonius uses very freely.
The rather frigid iteration veni — venit is no doubt intentional.

I

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

protulit undantem segetem sine semine campus

et sine se natis invidit pampinus uvis.

hibernae rubuere rosae spretoque rigore 110

lilia permixtis insultavere pruinis.

tale puerperium quotiens Lucina resolvit,

mos elementorum cedit regnique futuri

fit rerum novitate fides, venisse beatos

sic loquitur natiira deos : constantis luli 115

lambebant teneros incendia blanda capillos ;

Astyages Cyro pellendus forte nepoti

inguinis expavit difFusum vite racemum ;

praebuit intrepido mammas lupa feta Quirino ;

lulius in lucem venit dum laurea flagrat ; 120

magnus Alexander nee non Augustus habentur

concepti serpente deo Phoebumque lovemque

divisere sibi : namque horum quaesiit unus

Cinyphia sub Sjrrte patrem ; maculis genetricis

alter Phoebigenam sese gaudebat haberi, 125

Paeonii iactans Epidauria signa draconis.

multos cinxerunt aquilae subitumque per orbem

lusit Venturas famulatrix penna coronas.

ast hunc, egregii proceres, ad sceptra vocari

iam tum nosse datum est, laribus cum forte paternis

protulit excisus iam non sua germina palmes. 131

1 Verg. Aen. II. 682.

2 Herodotus I. 108. He dreamed that a vine issued from
his daughter's womb and spread over all Asia.

' This story does not seem to occur in any previous writer.
Possibly it was in the early part (now lost) of Suetonius'
lulius.

* Alexander the Great claimed to be the son of Zeus Ammon,
Augustus was rumoured to be the son of Apollo ; these gods
were said to have visited the mothers in the form of serpents.
For accoxints of Alexander's miraculous birth see, for example,

i6

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

hung upon the bough. The plain brought forth
without seed a waving crop and the vine-branch
looked grudgingly on the grapes brought into being
without her. Roses blushed red in winter and lilies
scorning the cold mocked the surrounding frosts.
When Lucina is bringing such a birth to fulfilment the
order of the elements gives way and a changed
world gives assurance of coming sovereignty. Thus
does nature declare that blessed gods have arrived.
Flames played lovingly round the childish locks of the
staunch lulus ^; Astyages,^ fated to be dethroned by
his grandson Cyrus, shuddered to see the grape-
clusters spreading from the vine that grew from the
womb ; the m.other-wolf gave suck to the untroubled
Quirinus ; Julius came into the world whilst a
laurel blazed^; Alexander the Great and Augustus
are deemed to have been conceived of a serpent
god,* and they claimed between them Phoebus and
Jupiter as their progenitors ; for one of them sought
his sire near the Cinyphian Syrtes, the other rejoiced
that from his mother's marks he was deemed the
offspring of Phoebus, and he vaunted the imprints
of the healing serpent of Epidaurus. Many have been
encircled by eagles, and a quick-formed ring of
cringing plumage has playfully figured the crown that
was to come. But as for this prince of ours, illustrious
Lords, right early might it be known that he was
destined for the sceptre, when it came to pass that in
his father's house a severed vine-branch brought
forth shoots no longer its own. That was the

Justin, xi. 11 and Plutarch Alex. cc. 2 sq.; for Augustus see
Suet. Aug. 94. From v. 126 it seems clear that Sidonius repre-
sents Augustus as claiming to be the son of Aesculapius, and
therefore the graticUon of Apollo.

17

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

imperii ver illud erat ; sub imagine frondis
dextra per arentem florebant omina virgam.
at postquam primes infans exegerat annos,
reptabat super arma patris, quamque arta terebat 135
lammina cervicem gemina complexus ab ulna
livida laxatis intrabat ad oscula cristis.
ludus erat puero raptas ex hoste sagittas
festina tractare manu captosque per arcus
flexa reluctantes in cornua trudere nervos, 140

nunc tremulum tenero iaculum torquere lacerto
inque frementis equi dorsum cum pondere conti
indutas Chalybum saltu transferre catenas,
inventas agitare feras et fronde latentes
quaerere, deprensas modo claudere cassibus artis,
nunc torto penetrare veru : tum saepe fragore 146
laudari comitum, frendens cum belua ferrum
ferret et intratos exirent arma per armos.
conde Pelethronios, alacer puer et venator,
Aeacida, titulos, quamquam subiecta magistri 150
terga premens et ob hoc securus lustra pererrans
tu potius regereris equo. non principe nostro
spicula direxit melius Pythona superstans
Paean, cum vacua turbatus paene pharetra
figeret innumeris numerosa volumina telis. 155

140. tenders Buecheler.

^ As the boy's hands seem to be otherwise engaged {v. 136),
the idea may be that he eagerly pushes the visor up with his
face untU it is sufficiently open for his purpose. In any case
the metal bruises him as he tries to snatch a kiss — this seems
to be the meaning of livida osciila ; but the same adjective is
used in 7. 742 to denote the discoloration of the skin through
wearing a helmet, and Dr. Semple {Qiiaest. Ex., p. 69) may be
right in finding the same reference here. Cristis means

i8

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

spring-time of his sovereignty ; in the guise of leafat/e
happy omens burgeoned along that withered branch.
But when the early years of infancy were past he
would clamber over his father's armour, and gripping
with his two forearms the neck pressed by the
close-fitting metal he would loosen the helmet and
find an entrance for his livid kisses.^ In boyhood it
was his sport to handle eagerly arrows that had been
seized from the foe, and on captive bows to force
the resisting strings on to the curving horn, or to hurl
with boyish arm the quivering javelin, or with a
leap to throw upon the back of a chafing steed all
his weight of steel chain-armour and heavy lance ;
or at other times to find and chase the wild beasts,
to seek them in their leafy lurking-places and, when
he espied them, sometimes to enclose thein in a
tight net, sometimes to pierce them with cast of
spear. Then would he oft be cheered with great
noise by his comrades, as with gnashing teeth the
beast received the steel and the weapon entered and
passed clean through the shoulders. Now hide thy
Thessalian honours, scion of Aeacus,^ high-mettled
boy and hunter — though, as thou didst bestride thy
master's compliant back, and so traverse the haunts
of beasts in safety, it was rather thou that wert con-
trolled by thy steed. Even Paean Apollo did not
aim his shafts better than our prince, as the god stood
over Python and, sore distressed, with quiver well-
nigh emptied, pierced those mmierous coils with in-
numerable weapons.

" helmet," as in 7. 242. This rare use occurs first in Silius IV.
156, but Sidonius probably borrowed it from Claudian, Rufin.
I. 346.

2 Aeacida, Achilles : 7nagistri, Chiron the centaur.

19

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Nee minus haec inter veteres audire sophistas :
Mileto quod crete Thales vadimonia culpas ;
Lindie quod Cleobule canis " modus optimus esto ";
ex Ephyra totum meditaris quod Periander ;
Attice quodve Solon finem bene respicis aevi ; 160
Prienaee Bia, quod plus tibi turba malorum est ;
noscere quod tempus, Lesbo sate Pittace, suades ;
quod se nosse omnes vis, ex Laeedaemone Chilon.
praeterea didicit varias, nova dogmata, sectas :
quidquid laudavit Scythicis Anacharsis in arvis ;
quidquid legifero profecit Sparta Lycurgo ; 166

quidquid Erechtheis Cynicorum turba volutat
gymnasiis, imitata tuos. Epicure, sodales ;
quidquid nil verum statuens Academia duplex
personat ; arroso quidquid sapit ungue Cleanthes ;
quidquid Pythagoras, Democritus, Heraclitus 171
deflevit, risit, tacuit ; quodcumque Platonis
ingenium, quod in arce fuit, docet ordine terno,

165. laudatum est codd.

^ Cf. 15. 44 sqq., where the maxims of the Seven Sages are
the same as here, except in the case of Solon. The saying
attributed to Periander seems to have been originally fieXerrj
(Doric /LicAera) to ttuv, " practice is everything," " practice
makes perfect " ; but Sidonius, like several other ancient
authors, takes fieXtra as the imperative of the verb ixeXerdv,
" to practise."

2 The Cynics were more allied in doctrine to the Stoics than
to the Epicureans, and Sidonius may really be thinking of the
Cyrenaics; but Augustine, CD. xix. 1 ad fin., asserts
that philosophers with very different views of the summum
bonum (in some cases " virtue," in others " pleasure ") adopted
the dress and customs of the Cynic school and were called
C7/nici. Origen, In Exod. Horn. iv. § 6 (p. 178, 11. 21 £E.,
Baehrens), alleges that the Cynics make " pleasure and lust "
their summum bonum ; cf. Augustine, Contra Acad. III. 19. 42.

' The doctrine that certain truth is unattainable belongs
especially to the New Academy, but Cicero, as Mr. Semple

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

And amid all these doings he busied himself no
less in hearkening to the lore of ancient sages ^ ; how
Thales, that son of Miletus, condemned all lawsuits,
how Cleobulus of Lindus sings " Let moderation be
our ideal," how Periander of Corinth practises
everything, how Athenian Solon keeps his eye wisely
fixed on life's end, how Bias of Priene deems the
wicked to be the majority, how Pittacus, native of
Lesbos, advises to mark well the opportune time,
and how Chilon of Lacedaemon would have all men
know themselves. Moreover, he learned new doc-
trines of divers schools — whatsoever in the Scythian
land Anacharsis praised, all the gain that Sparta
got with Lycurgus for her law-giver, all that the
company of Cynics debates in the Erechthean
gymnasium, copying the disciples of Epicurus ^ ; all
that the two Academies ^ loudly proclaim, affirming
naught to be true ; all the wisdom that Cleanthes
has won with much biting of nails*; the tears of
HeracHtus, the laughter of Democritus, or the
silence of Pythagoras ; whatsoever teaching Plato's
intellect, which dwelt in the citadel,^ sets forth in

points out (p. 71), claims that the attitude of the Old Academy,
even of Plato himself, was similar {Ac. I. 46).

* The biting of the nails seems to have been traditionally
associated with Cleanthes. Cf. Epist. IX. 9. 14. Probably he
was 80 represented in some well-known work of art.

' in arce. Plato taught that the rational part of the soul
resides in the head, which is, as it were, the citadel which
commands the non-rational parts (the passionate and the
appetitive), situated respectively in the breast and under the
midriff. The doctrine is briefly stated in Cic. Tusc. I. 20.
In arcefuit could also mean " was pre-eminent" (cf. 23. 142),
and there may be a double entente here, Ordine temo probably
refers, not to the tripartite division of the soul, but to the
division of Philosophy into Physics, Logic, and Ethics. See
15. 100 f. and note.

21
VOL. I. D

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quae vel Aristoteles, partitus membra loquendi,
argumentosis dat retia syllogismis ; 175

quidquid Anaximenes, Euclides, Archyta, Zenon,
Arcesilas, Chrysippus Anaxagorasque dederunt,
Socraticusque animus post fatum in Phaedone vivus,
despiciens vastas tenuato in crure catenas,
cum tremeret mors ipsa reum ferretque venenum
pallida securo lictoris dextra magistro. 181

praeterea quidquid Latialibus indere libris
prisca aetas studuit, totum percurrere suetus :
Mantua quas acies pelagique pericula lusit
Zmyrnaeas imitata tubas, quamcumque loquendi 185
Arpinas dat consul opem, sine fine secutus
fabro progenitum, spreto cui patre polita
eloquiis plus lingua fuit, vel quidquid in aevum
mittunt Euganeis Patavina volumina chartis ;
qua Crispus brevitate placet, quo pondere Varro,
quo genio Plautus, quo fulmine Quintilianus, 191

qua pompa Tacitus numquam sine laude loquendus.

179. in C, om. codd. plerique.

186. secutus fabro progenitum 3Iohr et Luetjohann : locutus
tabro progenitus.

^ Homer. * Cicero.

' Demosthenes, of. 23. 143; Juvenal X. 130-32. The
father of Demosthenes was a wealthy sword-manufacturer.
Polita contains an allusion to the father's trade ; Sidonius
uses polire in the sense of "sharpen"; cf. expolire, 23. 144.

* The works of Livy. The Euganei inhabited Venetia,
but were driven out by the Veneti. Euganeus in poetry
means "Venetian," and especially " Paduan." Padua
(Patavium) was Livy's birthplace.

^ Sallust (C. Sallustius Crispus).

• Sidonius, Uke other late authors, uses genius in various
meanings, not always easy to determine. The renderings
given in this version generally follow the Thesaurus Linguae
Latinae,

22

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

triple array; or again, the snares that Aristotle,
dividing speech into its members, sets for us with
his syllogistic reasoning ; and also whatever has been
bestowed by Anaximenes, Euclid, Archytas, Zeno,
Arcesilas, Chrysippus and Anaxagoras, and by the
soul of Socrates as it lives after his death in the
Pkaedo, a soul that recked naught of the huge fetters
on his wasted leg, while death's self trembled before
the prisoner and the executioner's hand was pale
as it proffered the poison, though the master's heart
was untroubled. Besides these he was wont to
range through all that antiquity strove to inscribe
on Latin pages : the battles and the ocean perils
that Mantua paraded, copying the trumpet-tones
of Smyrna's bard ^ ; whatever aid to speaking the
consul of Arpinum^ affords, he who follows without
ceasing that smith's son^ who set his father at naught,
deeming more precious a tongue made keen by use
of eloquence ; or again whatever the volumes of the
Paduan* deliver for all time in those Euganean
pages ; the brevity that wins applause in Crispus,^
the weightiness of Varro, the wit^ of Plautus, the
hghtning of Quintilian,' and the majesty of Tacitus,®
a name never to be uttered without praise.

' This can scarcely refer to the Institutio Oratoria. Quin-
tilian in early life published one of his speeches, and garbled
versions of others were pubhshed without his authority.
But Sidonius is almost certainly thinking not of these but of the
declamations (mostly still extant) which were falsely attributed
to Quintilian. Cf. 9. 317; Epist. V, 10. 3. Fulmen is applied
to eloquence by Quintilian himself, VIII. 6. 7 and XII. 10.
65 (the latter passage alluding to the famous saying of Aristo-
phanes about the "flashing and thundering" Pericles,
Acharnians 531); also by Cicero and others.

* Sidonius plays on the word Tacitus ("silent"); cf. 23.
154, Epist. IV. 22. 2.

23

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

His hunc formatum studiis, natalibus ortum,
moribus imbutum princeps cui mundiis ab Euro
ad Zeph3rrum tunc sceptra dabat, cui nubilis atque
unica purpureos debebat nata nepotes, 196

elegit generum ; sed non ut deside luxu
fortuna soceri contentus et otia captans
nil sibi deberet ; comitis sed iure recepto
Danuvii ripas et tractum limitis ampli 200

circuit, hortatur, disponit, discutit, armat.
sic sub patre Pius moderatus castra parentis,
sic Marcus vivente Pio, post iura daturi,
innumerabilibus legionibus imperitabant.
hinc reduci datur omnis honos, et utrique magister
militiae consulque micat, coniuncta potestas 206

patricii, celerique gradu privata cucurrit
culmina conscenditque senum puer ipse curulem,
sedit et emerito iuvenis veteranus in aiiro.

lamque parens divos : sed vobis nulla cupido 210
imperii ; longam diademata passa repulsam

205. honos edit. Greg, et Collomh. : honor.

1 Marcian, Emperor of the East, 450-57.

2 Aelia Marcia Euphemia.

^ He received the dignity of a comes rei militaris, a frequent
stepping-stone to a magisterium militum, as in the present case.

* History does not record any military service on the part
of Marcus Aurelius before the death of Antoninus Pius.

' A gilded curule chair was used by the Emperors on cere-
monial occasions, but there is no evidence that gold ornamenta-
tion was allowed on other sdlae curules. It was, however, at
this time allowed on the sellae gestatoriae of consuls (see E'pist.
VIII. 8. 3), and Sidonius may be referring to this.

• i.e. his father-in-law Marcian : divos : cf. v. 318. It is
odd to find the Christian Sidonius writing thus; but literary
tradition is far more potent than reHgion in his poetry.

24

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

By such studies was he moulded, from such lineage
sprung, in such habits nui-tured ; and the prince ^ to
whom at that time the world from east to west was
giving the sceptre, on whom an only daughter ,2 now
of age for wedlock, must needs bestow grandchildren
that should wear the purple, chose this man for her
husband. Yet he did not rest in slothful luxury,
content with her father's glory, seeking a life of
ease and owing nothing to himself; nay, receiving
a count's authority ^ he traversed the Danube bank
and the whole length of the great frontier-lines,
exhorting, arranging, examining, equipping. Even
so had Pius under his father's sway ruled his father's
camps ; thus Marcus, too, while Pius still lived * ;
these two, destined later to be lawgivers, then
conmianded legions innumerable. When Anthemius
returned, every office was bestowed upon him ; he
shone upon the world as Master of Both Services
and as consul ; to this was added the authority of
Patrician ; and thus with speedy step he ran through
the highest dignities that a subject may reach;
youth though he was, he mounted the curule throne
of the elders, and sat, a young veteran, on the gold ^
that belongs to the old campaigner.

And now thy father ^ was numbered with the gods ;
but thou hadst no craving for empire ; the diadem
after a long rejection chose out an illustrious man,^

' Leo I occupied a comparatively humble position (he was a
tribumis militum, with the rank of count) when he was suddenly
promoted to the Imperial throne at the age of nearly 60.
The words loiigam passa repulsam cannot refer to the very
short interval between the death of Marcian and the acces-
sion of Leo ; they state (with what truth we cannot say) that
Anthemius had persistently declined the offer of Marcian to
designate him as his successor.

25

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

insignem legere virum, quern deinde legentem

spernere non posses : soli tibi contulit uni

hoc Fortuna decus, quamquam te posceret ordo,

ut lectus princeps mage quam videare relictus. 215

post socerum Augustum regnas, sed non tibi venit

purpura per thalamos, et coniunx regia regno

laus potius quam causa fuit ; nam iuris habenis

non generum legit respublica, sed generosum.

fallor, bis gemino nisi cardine rem probat orbis : 220

ambit te Zephyrus rectorem, destinat Eurus,

ad Boream pugnas et formidaris ad Austrum.

Ante tamen quam te socium collega crearet,
perstrinxisse libet quos Illyris ora triumphos
viderit, excisam quae se Valameris ab armis 225

forte ducis nostri vitio deserta gemebat.
baud aliter, caesus quondam cum Caepio robiu*
dedidit Ausonium, subita cogente ruina
electura ducem post guttura fracta lugurthae
ultum Arpinatem Calpurnia foedera lixam "^ 230

opposuit rabido respublica territa Cimbro.

^ Bury (I. 314) wrongly takes ordo to mean the Senate.

2 Illyricum ; for its extent see Hodgkin I. 295. The name
of the unworthy dux is unknown. Some have absurdly tried
to identify him with Arnegisclus, magister militum per Thracias,
who died fighting bravely against Attila in a.d. 447. After
the break-up of the Hunnish dominion in a.d. 454 the Ostro-
goths were allowed by Marcian to settle in Pannonia. Some
years later, when Leo had refused to pay the subsidy which
Marcian had granted them, they overran and devastated lUyri-
cum. It was obviously one of these raids that Anthemius
checked, but no other writer mentions the episode. Sidonius
is likewise the sole authority for the campaign against
Hormidac {w. 236 sqq.)

' Walamir was one of the three Ostrogoth kings.

* Caepio, defeated with great slaughter by the Cimbrians
at Arausio (Orange), 105 B.C.

26

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

one whom thou coiildst not slight when he in his
turn chose thee. Fortune hath given thee this
unique honour, that although the order of succession
demanded thee, ^ thou art looked on as a prince chosen,
not as a prince by inheritance. Thou reignest after
an Augustus who was thy wife's father, but the
purple came not to thee by thy marriage ; thy royal
bride hath been rather the glory of thy royalty than
its cause, for when the commonwealth chose thee to
\vield the reins of state it was for thy kingly soul,
not for thy kin. My judgment errs if the four
quarters of the earth do not approve the choice ; the
West seeks thee, the East sends thee, as ruler ;
thou fightest in the North and art feared in the
South.

But I would fain touch on the triumphs that the
Illyrian region ^ beheld before thy colleague made
thee his partner, when that land, deserted, as it
chanced, through a Roman leader's fault, was be-
moaning its devastation by the arms of Walamir.^
Even so was it in former days when Caepio's * slaughter
had given up Ausonia's best warriors to the enemy ;
the terrified commonwealth, compelled by that
crashing blow, essayed to choose a leader; 'twas
after the strangling of Jugurtha, and they set
against the frenzied Cimbrian the batman^ from
Arpinum who had avenged Calpurnius' treaty.®

^ Ancient writers are fond of exaggerating the lowly origin
of Gains Marius. Lixa properly means " camp-sutler," but
in later Latin we sometimes find lixae used where calones would
be more correct. The calones were slave-attendants of officers
or soldiers.

• The treaty made with Jugurtha in 111 B.C. by Calpurnius
Bestia and Aemilius Scaurus, who had been bribed by the
Numidian.

27

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

hie primum ut vestras aquilas provincia vidit,
desiit hostiles confestim horrere dracones.
ilicet edomiti bello praedaque cardites
mox ipsi tua praeda iacent.

Sed omittimus istos 235
ut populatores : belli magis acta revolvo ;
quod bellum non parva manus nee carcere fracto
ad gladiaturam tu Spartace vincte parasti/
sed Scythicae vaga turba plagae, feritatis abundans,
dira, rapax, vehemens,ipsis quoque gentibus illic
barbara barbaricis, cuius dux Hormidac atque 241
civis erat. quis tale solum est moresque genusque :

Albus H3rperboreis Tanais qua vallibus actus
Riphaea de caute cadit, iacet axe sub Vrsae
gens animis membrisque minax : ita vultibus ipsis 245
infantum suus hon-or inest. consurgit in artum
massa rotunda caput ; geminis sub fronte cavernis
visus adest oculis absentibus ; acta cerebri
in cameram vix ad refugos lux pervenit orbes,
non tamen et clausos ; nam fornice non spatioso 250
magna vident spatia, et maioris luminis usum

242, moresque Mohr : murique.
246. atrum C.

^ The typically Roman " eagle " (the traditional legionary
standard) is contrasted with the " dragons " of the " bar-
barians." But the use of dragon -ensigns had found its way
into the Roman army long before, and it is possible that by
this time they had entirely supplanted the ordinary standard.
For a description of them see 5. 402. It seems probable that
the " eagle " belonged only to the full legion of 6,000 men,
and not to the smaller units which were now dignified with
the title of legio. See Grosse, Rom. Militdrgeschichte, pp.
229-34.

" axe siib Vrsae. " The Huns came originally from the

28

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

Thereupon the province, beholding thine eagles,^
ceased of a sudden to shudder at the dragons of the
foe. Straightway crushed in war and reft of their
spoil they in their turn were spoils for thee, lying
prostrate at thy feet.

But such folk I pass by as mere raiders ; rather do
I now relate the exploits of a real war ; which war
no small band contrived, no Spartacus, bondsman
destined for the gladiator's work, who had burst open
his prison, but a roaming multitude from Scythian
clime, teeming with savagery, frightful, ravening,
violent, barbarous even in the eyes of the barbarian
peoples around them, a race whose leader was
Hormidac, a man of their own nation. Their land,
their habits and their origin were after this manner.
Where the white Tanais, driven down through the
valleys of the far north, falls from the Riphaean
crags, in the region of the Bear ,2 there dwells a
race with menace in heart and limbs 2; for truly
the very faces of their infants have a gruesomeness
all their own. Their heads are great round masses
rising to a narrow crown ; in two hollows beneath the
brow resides their sight, but the eyes are far to seek ;
the light, as it forces its way into the arched recesses
in the skull,* can scarce reach those retreating orbs
— ^retreating, but not shut; for from that vault of
narrow space they enjoy a spacious vision, and pel-
East, but it was from the North that they drove the Goths
down on the Romans." L. C. Purser. .

r ' For other descriptions of the Huns see Claud. Rufin. l\
(323-31 (imitated here), Amm. Marc. XXXI. 2. 1-11, Jordan./
\Get. 24 and (on AttUa) 35. ''

* cameram, one of the two cavernae (247 ) . Cameras (or orbem
for orbes) would have been clearer. It seems best to make
both nouns plural in the translation.

29

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

perspicua in puteis compensant puncta profundis.

turn, ne per malas excrescat fistula duplex,

obtundit teneras circumdata fascia nares,

ut galeis cedant : sic propter proelia natos 255

maternus deformat amor, quia tensa genarum

non interiecto fit latior area naso.

cetera pars est pulchra viris : stant pectora vasta,

insignes umeri, succincta sub ilibus alvus.

forma quidem pediti miedia est, procera sed exstat 260

si cernas equites : sic longi saepe putantur

si sedeant. vix matre carens ut constitit infans,

mox praebet dorsum sonipes ; cognata reare

membra viris : ita semper equo ceu fixus adhaeret

rector ; cornipedum tergo gens altera fertur, 265

haec habitat, teretes arcus et spicula cordi,

terribiles certaeque manus iaculisque ferendae

mortis fixa fides et non peccante sub ictu

edoctus peccare furor, gens ista repente

erumpens solidumque rotis transvecta per Histrum 270

venerat et siccas inciderat orbita lymphas.

hanc tu directus per Dacica rura vagantem

contra is, aggrederis, superas, includis ; et ut te

metato spatio castrorum Serdica vidit,

obsidione premis. quae te sic tempore multo 275

271. siccas Mohr : sectas codd. : strictas Rossberg, tectas
Buechder.

^ Or perhaps "a larger eye." Perspicua is possibly used
metri gratia for perspicacia, " clear-sighted " ; but I have not
found any parallel for such a use.

2 i.e. the nostrils.

* The paradoxical description of frozen rivers, etc. as " dry "
or " soUd " water is common in the Latin poets : cf. 6. 612, 7.
150. The notion of wheels traversing the water is derived
from Virgil {Georg. III. 360 sq.), and is worked to death by
the post-Augustans. Cf. 6. 519; similarly of riders, 7. 43.

30

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

lucid pin-points in those sunken wells give all the
service that an ampler light ^ could bring. Moreover,
the nostrils, while still soft, are blunted by an
encircling band, to prevent the two passages ^ from
growing outward between the cheek-bones, that
thus they may make room for the helmets ; for those
children are born for battles, and a mother's love
disfigures them, because the area of the cheeks
stretches and expands when the nose does not
intervene. The rest of the men's bodies is comely ;
chest large and firm, fine shoulders, compact stomach
beneath the flanks. On foot their stature is mid-
dling, but it towers aloft if you view them on horse-
back: thus are they often deemed long of frame
when seated. Scarce has the infant learnt to stand
without his mother's aid when a horse takes him on
his back. You would think the limbs of man and
beast were born together, so firmly does the rider
always stick to the horse, just as if he were fastened
to his place : any other folk is carried on horseback,
this folk lives there. Shapely bows and arrows are
their delight, sure and terrible are their hands;
firm is their confidence that their missiles will bring
death, and their frenzy is trained to do wrongful
deeds with blows that never go \vrong. This people
had burst forth in a sudden invasion ; they had come,
crossing with wheels the solid Danube, marking
the moistureless waters with ruts.^ Straight against
them didst thou go, as they roamed through the
Dacian fields ; thou didst attack and vanquish and
hem them in ; and soon as Serdica * beheld thee with
thine encampment laid out, thou didst straitly besiege
them. The town marvelled at thee as thou didst

* Serdica. Near the modern Sofia.

31

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

in vallo positum stupuit, quod miles in agros

nee licitis nee furtivis excursibus ibat.

cui deesset cum saepe Ceres semperque Lyaeus,

disciplina tamen non defuit ; inde propinquo

hoste magis timuere ducem, sic denique factum est

ut socius tum forte tuus, mox proditor, illis 281

frustra terga daret commissae tempore pugnae.

qui iam cum fugeret flexo pede cornua nudans,

tu stabas acies solus, te sparsa fugaci

expetiit ductore manus, te Marte pedestri 285

sudantem repetebat eques, tua signa secutus

non se desertum sensit certamine miles.

I nunc et veteris profer praeconia Tulli,
aetas cana patrum, quod pulchro hortamine mendax
occuluit refugi nutantia foedera Metti ! 290

nil simile est fallique tuum tibi non placet hostem.
tunc vicit miles, dum se putat esse iuvandum :
hie vicit postquam se comperit esse relictum.
dux fugit : insequeris ; renovat certamina : vincis ;
clauditur : expugnas ; elabitur : obruis atque 295

Sarmaticae paci pretium sua funera ponis.
paretur ; iussum subiit iam transfuga letum
atque peregrino cecidit tua victima ferro.
ecce iterum, si forte placet, conflige, vetustas !

^ See Livy I. 27 f. 3Ietti may be gen. sing, of Mettius
(the usual form^ or of Mettus (Verg. Aen. VIII. 642).

^ It seems clear from v. 297 that the dux here mentioned is
the deserter. Sua in v. 296 is equal to eius, as often in Sidonius.

' Sarm., i.e. with the Hunnish forces.

32

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

tarry thus for long within the rampart, because thy
soldiers went not forth into the fields in regular or
stealthy raids. Though oft they lacked corn and
always >vine, they lacked not discipline ; hence
though the foe was nigh they feared their general
more. So at length it came to pass that he who
chanced to be thine ally then but straightway
played thee false gained nothing when he retreated
before the foe at the first onset ; for when he had
begun to flee, turning aside and laying bare the
wings, thou didst stand thy ground, a host in thyself;
to thee did those warriors rally whom their captain's
flight had scattered, back to thee came the cavalry
as thou didst toil and sweat, fighting on foot ; and
following thy standards the soldiers felt that they
were not deserted in the fray.

Go to now, ancient generation of our fathers!
Proclaim, if ye will, the praises of old Tullus, for
that he lied in a noble exhortation and concealed the
collapse of the treaty with the deserter Mettus ! ^
There is nothing like that here ; thou, Anthemius,
wouldst not choose to have even thine enemy
misled. Those old-time soldiers conquered in the
belief that they would be aided ; but these conquered
in the knowledge that they were deserted. The
captain ^ flees ; thou dost pursue ; he renews the
fray ; thou conquerest ; he shuts himself in ; thou
dost storm his entrenchment ; he slips away ; thou
dost overwhelm him, and dost demand his life as the
price of peace with the Sarmatians.^ Thy will is
done, and straightway the deserter has suffered the
death decreed and has fallen — thy victim, though
slain by a foreign sword. Come now. Antiquity!
Enter the contest once more, if it please thee !

33

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Hannibal ille ferox ad poenam forte petitus, 300

etsi non habuit ius vitae fine supremo,

certe habuit mortis : quem caecus career et uncus

et quem exspectabat fracturus guttura lictor,

hausit Bebrycio constantior hospite virus ;

nam te qui fugit, mandata morte peremptus, 305

non tam victoris periit quam iudicis ore.

Nunc ades, o Paean, lauro cui grypas obuncos
docta lupata ligant quotiens per frondea lora
flectis penniferos hederis bicoloribus armos ;
hue converte chelyn : non est modo dicere tempus
Pythona exstinctum nee bis septena sonare 311

vulnera Tantalidum, quorum tibi funera servat
cantus et aeterno vivunt in carmine mortes.
vos quoque, Castalides, paucis, quo numine nobis
venerit Anthemius gemini cum foedere regni, 315
pandite : pax rerum misit qui bella gubernet.

Auxerat Augustus naturae lege Severus
divorum numerum. quem mox Oenotria casum
vidit ut aerei de rupibus Appennini,
pergit caerulei vitreas ad Thybridis aedes, 320

non galea conclusa genas (nee sutilis illi

^ Forte, "as it so happened," is sometimes little more
than "padding." Servius alleges that Virgil has so used it
in two places; the allegation would be truer of Sidonius.
I have translated it where possible.

'^ Prusias of Bithynia. Hannibal took poison to avoid
falling into the hands of the Romans, when Prusias sought to
betray him.

3 Nam = " but," as in several other places. The use is
common in late Latin, and its germ can be found in Cicero.
See Schmalz-Hofmann, Synt., p. 679.

* Modo, "now," as often in these poems.

^ For the varying accounts of the number of Niobe's
children see the note in Sir J. G. Frazer's trans, of ApoUodorus
in this series, Vol. I, p. 340.

34

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

Wlien the surrender of the bold Hannibal was claimed
by those that would punish him,^ though in that last
hour he had not power to live, yet had he power to
determine his death ; and so, when the dark dungeon
awaited him, and the iron hook, and the lictor ap-
pointed to break the prisoner's neck, he swallowed
the poison, a stauncher man than his Bithynian
host 2; but 3 the man that deserted thee was cut off
by a death that had been commanded, and it was
a judge's rather than a victor's lips that sealed his
doom.

Now grant thy presence. Paean Apollo, whose
hook-beaked gryphons the well-schooled curb doth
constrain with its bond of laurel, whensoever thou
wieldest thy leafy reins and guidest their winged
shoulders with double-hued ivy! Hither direct thy
lyre! It is not now* the time to sing of Python's
destruction or to hymn the twice seven wounds of
the Niobids^ — victims whose dooms are preserved
to thine honour in song, so that their deaths live in
deathless poesy. Ye Muses, likewise, reveal in
brief words by what divine power Anthemius came to
us with a covenant made by the two realms ; an
empire's peace hath sent him to conduct our wars.

By nature's law Severus had been added to the
ranks of the gods.^ Oenotria,'^ when from the crags
of towering Apennine she beheld this calamity, hied
her to the glassy abode of blue Tiber. She had not
encased her cheeks in a helmet (and she wore no

• Libius Severus was Emperor from 19th Nov., a.d. 461, to
15th Aug., 465. Some said that he was murdered by Ricimer,
and naturae lege may be meant as an emphatic denial of this
(probably unfounded) allegation. See Hodgkin, II. 432.

' Oenotria, old and poetical name for Italy, here treated as
a goddess.

35

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

circulus inpactis loricam texuit hamis),
sed nudata caput ; pro crine racemifer exit
plurima per frontem constringens oppida palmes,
perque umeros teretes, rutilantes perque lacertos 325
pendula gemmiferae mordebant suppara bullae,
segnior incedit senio venerandaque membra
viticomam retinens baculi vice flectit ad ulmum.
sed tamen Vbertas sequitur : quacumque propinquat,
incessu fecundat iter ; comitataque gressum 330

laeta per impress as rorat Vindemia plantas.
I licet ingreditur Tiberini gurgitis antrum,
currebat fluvius residens et harundinis altae
concolor in viridi fluitabat silva capillo ;
dat sonitum mento unda cadens, licet hispida saetis
suppositis multum sedaret barba fragorem ; 336

pectore ructabat latices lapsuque citato
sulcabat madidam iam torrens alveus alvum.
terretur veniente dea manibusque remissis
remus et urna cadunt. veniae tum verba paranti 340
ilia prior : " venio viduatam praesule nostro
per te, si placeat, lacrimis inflectere Romam :
expetat Aurorae partes fastuque remoto
hoc unum praestet, iam plus dignetur amari.
instrue quas quaerat vires orbique iacenti 345

^ She wore a crown of towers, representing in this case the
Italian towns. The goddess Roma also has a towered crown
(v. 392).

^ The meaning "straightway" may be intended, but
it does not quite suit the previous paragraph. Sidonius has
a peculiar use of ilicet, found in 15. 42 and in at least nine of the
ten passages where it occurs in the Epistles. There it is
a particle of transition, with the force of "so," "so then,"
"well," sometimes "in short." For a discussion of the
subject see Mohr's pamphlet, Zu Apollinaris Sidonius, Bremer-
haven 1886. The meaning "straightway " will serve in most
passages of the Poems where the word occurs.

36

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

hauberk fashioned with stitched rings of tight-
driven hooks), but bared was her head. Instead of
hair there overran her forehead a vine-branch with
clustered grapes, binding fast her many towns ,^ and
along her shapely shoulders and radiant arms
jewelled brooches gripped her flowing robe. The
slowness of old age was in her gait, and she held as
a staff an elm covered with vine-foliage, and guided
her venerable limbs thereby. Yet Abundance
attended her; wherever she drew nigh, with her
coming she spread fruitfulness over her path, and
Vintage, accompanying her steps, joyfully made the
juice rise wherever her feet trod.

So 2 she entered the cave of Tiber's stream.
There sat the running river.^ On his green hair
drifted a like-hued clump of tall reeds. The
water sounded as it fell from his chin, though a
beard of shaggy bristles underneath did much to
dull the roar. From his breast he threw out
streams, and falling more rapidly the flood now
furious furrowed his soaking stomach. As the god-
dess drew nigh fear seized him; his hands relaxed,
and the urn and the oar fell from them. He was
devising words of excuse when she broke in: "I
come that through thee, if it please thee, I may sway
by my tears Rome, now bereft of our ruler. I would
have her turn to the region of Dawn ; let her put her
disdain aside and by granting this one thing deserve
even greater love. Teach her what strength she
must enlist, and tell her in what world she must crave

• A feeble paradox, somewhat toned down in the translation.
The river-god is identified with the river in currebat and distin-
guished from it in residens.

37

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quo poscat die orbe caput, quemcumque creavit
axe meo natum, eonfestim fregit in illo
imperii Fortuna rotas, hinc Vandalus hostis
urget et in nostrum numerosa classe quotannis
militat excidium, conversoque ordine fati 350

torrida Caucaseos infert mihi Byrsa furores,
praeterea invietus Ricimer, quem publica fata
respiciunt, proprio solus vix Marte repellit
piratam per rura vagum, qui proelia vitans
victorem fugitivus agit. quis sufFerat hostem 355
qui paeem pugnamque negat ? nam foedera nulla
cum Ricimere iacit. quem cur nimis oderit audi,
incertum crepat ille patrem, cum serva sit illi
cert a parens ; nunc, ut regis sit filius, effert
matris adulterium. turn livet quod Ricimerem 360
in regnum duo regna vocant ; nam patre Suebus,
a genetrice Getes. simul et reminiscitur illud,
quod Tartesiacis avus huius Vallia terris
Vandalicas turmas et iuncti Martis Halanos
stravit et occiduam texere cadavera Calpen. 365

quid veteres narrare fugas, quid damna priorum?

^ Geiseric took Carthage in a.d. 439 and made it his capital.
Byrsa is properly the citadel of Carthage. The epithet
CaiLcaseos is very loose; the Vandals had not come from the
region of the Caucasus, though the Alans, who were now subjects
of the Vandal king, had done so.

2 piratam : cf. v. 17. Geiseric was an incorrigible pirate,
even when he was not actually at war. It was an attack by
him on the Peloponnese that finally induced Leo to concert
a gigantic ofEensive of East and West against him and to make
Anthemius Emperor of the West. Shortly before this (461-
465) Geiseric had made a series of devastating descents upon
Italy and Sicily. The joint expedition, of which Sidonius speaks
so hopefuUy, came to a disastrous end in a.d. 468, owing
mainly to the incompetence of the commander-in-chief^
BasiUscus.

38

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

a head for her own stricken world. Whenever
Fortune hath chosen a man born in my cHme, she
hath instantly broken the wheels of his empire. On
this side the Vandal foe presses hard; and every
year he wars with multitudinous navy to destroy us ;
the natural order hath been reversed, and now parched
Byrsa launches against me the frenzy of the Cauca-
sus.^ Yea more, unconquerable Ricimer, to whom
the destiny of our nation looks for safety, doth
barely drive back with his own unaided force the
pirate 2 that ranges over our lands, that ever avoids
battles and plays a conqueror's part by flight. Who
could brook an enemy that refuses both concord and
combat.'^ For never does he make a treaty with
Ricimer. Hear now why he hates our leader with
such exceeding hate.^ His father is unknown, yet
he prates ever of him, since 'tis well known his mother
was a slave-woman.* So now, to make himself out
a king's son, he proclaims his mother's shame. He
is jealous also because two kingdoms call Ricimer to
kingly power, Suevian as he is on the father's side,^
Gothic on the mother's. He likewise remembers
this, that W^allia,^ grandsire of Ricimer, laid low on
Spanish soil the Vandal squadrons and the Alans,
their comrades in the war, and their corpses covered
Calpe in the far west. But why tell of ancient routs,
of the losses of bygone generations ? Nay, he calls

' Geiseric's feud with Ricimer was not due merely to the
causes mentioned here. See Hodgkin, II. 434 f.

* Geiseric's father was Godigiselas, a king of the Asding
Vandals.

' Ricimer' s father was a Suevian chief.

' The Visigoth WaUia, father of Ricimer's mother, an-
nihilated the Siling Vandals in Spain and crushed their allies
the Alans, the remnant of whom took refuge with the Asding
Vandals in Gallaecia (a.d. 416-418). See Introd., p. xi.

39

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Agrigentini recolit dispendia campi.
inde furit, quod se docuit satis iste nepotem
illius esse viri quo viso, Vandale, semper
terga dabas. nam non Siculis inlustrior arvis 370
tu, Marcelle, redis, per quem tellure marique
nostra Syracusios presserunt arma penates ;
nee tu cui currum Curii superare, Metelle,
contigit, ostentans nobis elephanta frequentem,
grex niger albentes tegeret cum mole iugales 375
auctoremque suum celaret pompa triumphi.
Noricus Ostrogothum quod continet, iste timetur ;
Gallia quod Rheni Martem ligat, iste pavori est ;
quod consanguineo me Vandalus hostis Halano
diripuit radente, suis hie ultus ab armis. 380

sed tamen unus homo est nee tanta pericula solus
tollere, sed differe potest : modo principe nobis
est opus armato, veterum qui more parentum
non mandet sed bella gerat, quem signa moventem
terra vel unda tremant, ut tandem iure recepto 385
Romula desuetas moderentur classica classes."

Audiit ilia pater, simul annuit, itur in urbem.
continuo videt ipse deam, summissus adorat,
pectus et exsertam tetigerunt cornua mammam ;

382. sed : si Buecheler.

^ Ricimer with his fleet frustrated an attempted raid by
Geiseric on Agrigentum and afterwards defeated him in
Corsican waters, a.d. 456. See Introd., p. xxi ; Bury, I. 327.

2 Marcellus, the capturer of Syracuse (212 B.C.).

^ Manius Curius Dentatus, conqueror of Pyrrhus (275 B.C.),
had four elephants at his triumph (Eutrop. II. 14) ; L. CaeciUus

40

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

to mind the havoc of Agrigentum's plain.^ Madly
he rages because his adversary has amply proved
himself the grandchild of that hero at sight of whom
the Vandal did ever turn in flight. No whit more
glorious didst thou, Marcellus,^ return from Sicilian
lands, thou through whom our arms did beset the
homes of Syracuse by land and sea ; or thou, Metellus,
whose fortune it was to outdo the triumph of Curius,^
when thou didst display to us a throng of elephants,
and the dusky herd screened the white chariot-steeds
with their mighty bulk, and the triumphal parade
hid the winner of the triumph. If the Norican is
restraining the Ostrogoth, it is that Ricimer is feared ;
if Gaul ties down the armed might of the Rhine, it
is he that inspires the dread ; and because the Vandal
foe plundered me while the Alan, his kinsman,
swept off what remained, this man took vengeance by
the force of his own arms. But he is only one man ;
alone he cannot remove these perils, but only delay
their day ; we need now an armed prince who in the
manner of our sires shall not order wars but wage
them,* one before whom land and sea shall quake
when he advances his standards, so that at last with
power regained the Roman war-trump may direct
Rome's dormant navies."

Father Tiber heard and heeded. To the city he
went and straightway with his own eyes beheld the
goddess, and bowed in humble adoration, so that his
horns touched her breast and her uncovered bosom.

Metellus had many (authorities differ as to the number) when
he triumphed after defeating the Carthaginians at Panormus
(250 B.C.).

* This anticipation was not fulfilled. Anthemius did not
personally take part in the great expedition against Greiserio.

41

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

mandatas fert inde preces ; quas diva secuta 390
apparat ire viam. laxatos torva capillos
stringit et inclusae latuerunt casside turres ;
infula laurus erat. bullis hostilibus asper
applicat a laeva surgentem balteus ensem.
inseritur clipeo victrix manus ; illius orbem 395

Martigenae, lupa, Thybris, Amor, Mars, Ilia

complent.
fibula mordaci refugas a pectore vestes
dente capit. micat hasta minax, quercusque tropaeis
curva tremit placitoque deam sub fasce fatigat.
perpetuo stat planta solo, sed fascia primos 400

sistitur ad digitos, retinacula bina cothurnis
mittit in adversum vincto de fomite pollex,
quae stringant crepidas et concun'entibus ansis
vinclorum pandas texant per crura catenas,
ergo sicut erat liquidam transvecta per aethram 405
nascentis petiit tepidos Hyperionis ortus.

Est locus Oceani, longinquis proximus Indis,
axe sub Eoo, Nabataeum tensus in Eurum :
ver ibi continuum est, interpellata nee ullis

399. placitoque Drakenborch : placidoque codd., def.
Semple.

^ fascia (= confining band) is evidently applied here to
the sole of the sandal: cf Epist. VIII. 11. 3, carm. v. 13,
fasceata. It cannot mean a fascia pedulis, which did not
come near the front of the foot. The meaning is that the
leather of the sole is not continued upwards over the toes to
form uppers. Two thongs encircle the great toe and are
passed cross -wise through large leather loops, which are
attached to the sole and form a network on both sides of the
foot when the laces have drawn them tight. After passing
through the last pair of loops these shoe-strings were passed
round the leg and fastened. The vincla are the laces, and

42

11. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

Then he delivered his message of entreaty, and the
goddess, compHant, made ready for the journey.
Stern was her look as she bound up her flowing hair ;
then she shut in her towers and hid them under a
helmet ; laurel formed her fillet. Her belt, rough
with shield-studs taken from enemies, made fast a
sword, which rose high on her left side. Her con-
quering arm was thrust into a shield, whose orb was
filled with the twin sons of Mars, with the wolf and
Tiber and Love and Mars and Ilia. A clasp fixes with
gripping tooth the raiment that retreats back from her
breast. Her threatening spear flashes, and an oak
bowed down with trophies sways and tires the goddess
under its welcome burden. The covering of her sole
is of one piece, ^ but this strip is not carried beyond
the tips of the toes ; the great toe sends two strings
upward from its encircled socket in opposite direc-
tions, so that they bind the sandal tight and, with the
side-loops drawn together, weave a curving mesh of
ties up the leg. In this guise, then, she was wafted
through the clear bright air, seeking the warm
rising-place of the nascent sun.

There is a region by Ocean's shore, nigh to the
distant Indians, under the eastern sky, stretching
towards the Nabataean ^ wind. Perpetual spring is
there, the ground is not made pale by any invading

V. 404 seems to refer to the pattern which they and the con-
verging loops make along the instep rather than to the whole
network of thongs which, as explained above, covered both
sides of the foot. It is unfortunate that Sidonius uses both
cothurmis and crepida for the same thing ; the latter is by far
the more appropriate word.

« i.e. eastern; cf. Ovid 3Iet. I. 61; Lucan IV. 63. The
Nabataei were a people of Arabia Petraea. In 5. 284 the second
vowel of Nabataeus is long.

43

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

frigoribus pallescit humus, sed flore perenni 410

picta peregrines ignorant arva rigores ;

halant rura rosis, indiscriptosque per agros

fragrat odor ; violam, cytisum, serpylla, ligustrum,

lilia, narcissos, casiam, colocasia, caltas,

costum, malobathrum, myrrhas, opobalsama, tura 415

parturiunt campi ; nee non pulsante senecta

hinc rediviva petit vicinus cinnama Phoenix.

hie domus Aurorae rutilo crustante metallo

bacarum praefert leves asprata lapillos.

diripiunt diversa oculos et ab arte magistra 420

hoc vincit, quodcumque vides ; sed conditur omnis

sub domina praesente decor, nimioque rubore

gemmarum varios perdit quia possidet ignes.

fundebat coma pexa crocos flexoque lacerto

lutea depressus comebat tempora pecten. 425

fundebant oculi radios ; color igneus iUis,

non tamen ardor erat, quamvis de nocte recussa

excepti soleant sudorem fingere rores.

pectora bis cingunt zonae, parvisque papillis

invidiam facit ipse sinus ; pars extima pepli 430

perfert puniceas ad crura rubentia rugas.

412. indiscTiptosque Mohr et Luetjohann: indescriptosque.

413. fragrat F, flagrat CPT.

^ The phoenix gathers all kinds of fragrant herbs to be
burnt with him on his " hfe-giving pyre " (Lactant. Phoen. 90).
In this connexion Sidonius never fails to mention cinnamon ;
see 7. 353, 9. 325, 11. 125, 22. 50; cf. Lactant. Phoen. 83.

* Here dawn and the goddess of dawn are mixed up,
like the Tiber and the Tiber-god in v. 333. The dew of dawn
looks like sweat, but is not sweat; for the rays of Dawn

.44

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

seasons of cold; the fields bedizened with ever-
blooming flowers know not the frosts of strange
lands. The countryside is fragrant with roses, and
throughout those unowned and undivided fields a
sweet aroma breathes. The plains ever bring forth
violets, clover, thyme, privet, lilies, narcissus, casia,
culcas, marigold, costum, malobathrum, myrrh,
balm, frankincense. Yea, when old age knocks at
his door, the phoenix that dwells hard by seeks from
hence the cinnamon that brings a new life.^ Here
the home of Aurora, overlaid with plates of flashing
gold, displays withal smooth pearls on its broken
surface. On all sides are things to capture the gaze,
and, thanks to their masterly artistry, whatsoever
meets the eye seems to surpass the rest. But all that
beauty is dimmed in the presence of its mistress,
who with her blushing radiance destroys the diverse
fires of the gems, because she has fires of her own.
Her combed hair poured forth saffron hues ; her arm
was bent as the comb sank in and arranged the
yellow tresses on her temples. Her eyes poured
forth rays ; fiery their hue, but the heat of fire was
not there, although when night is shaken off the
dews received from it are wont to have a semblance
of sweat.2 Her bosom was girdled by a double
band, and even the fold in her robe mocked the
smallness of her breasts.^ The lower part of the dress
extended its crimson folds down to her rosy knees.

(Aurora), which are diffused from her eyes, have no heat
in their fiery glow: morning receives its dew from the de-
parting night, not from the dawn.

' The meaning is not clear. Possibly " made her small
breasts envious," though invidiam facere regularly means " to
bring reproach upon."

45

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

sic regina sedet solio ; sceptri vice dextram
lampadis hasta replet ; Nox adstat proxima divae,
iam refugos conversa pedes, ac pone tribunal
promit Lux summum vix intellecta cacumen. 435
hinc Romam liquido venientem tramite cernens
exsiluit propere et blandis prior orsa loquellis
" quid, caput o mundi," dixit, " mea regna revisis ?
quidve iubes ? " paulum ilia silens atque aspera

miscens
mitibus haec coepit : " venio (desist e moveri 440
nee multum trepida), non ut mihi pressus Araxes
imposito sub ponte fluat nee ut ordine prisco
Indicus Ausonia potetur casside Ganges,
aut ut tigriferi pharetrata per arva Niphatis
depopuletur ovans Artaxata Caspia consul. 445

non Fori modo regna precor nee ut hisce lacertis
frangat Hydaspeas aries inpactus Erythras.
non in Bactra feror nee committentia pugnas
nostra Semiramiae rident ad classica portae.
Arsacias non quaero domus nee tessera castris 450
in Ctesiphonta datur. totum hunc tibi cessimus

axem :

446. Pori Sirmondus : phari(i).

^ Rome asserts that she has not come to reclaim her old
eastern conquests.

2 Araxes, in Armenia. Augustus is said to have built a
bridge over it. Cf. Verg. Aen. VIII. 728.

^ The Romans had never conquered any part of India. But
here and in vv. 446 f. Rome may merely be indicating that
she does not intend to emulate Alexander the Great.

* Erythraeus is often used by poets for Indian (from the
mare Erythraeum, which, in the largest sense of the term,
extended to the coast of India). Sidonius seems to have
invented the town of Erythrae; cf. 5. 285, 11. 105, 22. 22.
In 7. 354 Erythraeus really means "Arabian"; the vague
geography of the poets often merges Arabia or Aethiopia with

46

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

Thus she sits, a queen on her throne, but instead
of sceptre the shaft of a lamp fills her right hand.
Night stands near the goddess, with her feet already
turning to flee, and behind the dais Light scarce
perceived is beginning to reveal the topmost peak.
When from hence the goddess saw Rome drawing
nigh through the cloudless air, she sprang up in
haste and was the first to speak, thus beginning with
kindly words : " O head of the world, why dost
thou revisit my kingdom ? What are thy commands ? ' '
The other was silent for a brief space, then thus
began, mingling harsh and gentle phrase : ^ " I come
(cease to be thus perturbed, and be not grievously
alarmed), not that Araxes,^ mastered by me, may
have to flow beneath a bridge forced upon it, nor that
in the ancient manner the Indian Ganges ® may be
drunk from an Italian helmet, nor that a consul,
ranging through the fields of tiger-haunted Niphates,
home of archers, may triumphantly despoil Artaxata
by the Caspian Sea. I do not now beg for the realm
of Porus, nor that these arms may thrust a batter-
ing-ram to shatter Erythrae* on the bank of the
Hydaspes. I am not hurling myself against Bactra,
nor are the gates of Semiramis' town^ laughing to
hear our trumpets starting the fight. I crave not
the palaces of Persian kings, nor is word being passed
in camp of mine to march on Ctesiphon. All this
region ^ we have yielded up to thee. Do I not even

India ; so in another reference to the Phoenix, 9. 325 ; the same
bird appears among the Indian captives of Bacchus, 22. 50.

' i.e. of Babylon, which had, however, decayed after the
death of Alexander the Great. For the contemptuous refusal
to close the gates see n. on v. 80,

• For the boundaries of the eastern and western Empires
as finally settled after the death of Theodosius (a.d. 395) see
Gibbon, c. 29 init., Hodgkin, I. 677-8.

47

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

et nee sic mereor nostram ut tueare senectam ?
omne quod Euphraten Tigrimque interiacet olim
sola tenes : res empta mihi est de sanguine Crassi,
ad Carrhas pretium scripsi ; nee inulta remansi 455
aut periit sic emptus ager ; si fallo, probasti,
Ventidio mactate Sapor, nee sufficit istud :
Armenias Pontumque dedi, quo Marte petitum
dicat Sulla tibi ; forsan non creditur uni :
consule Lucullum. taceo iam Cycladas omnes : 460
adquisita meo servit tibi Creta Metello.
transcripsi Cilicas : hos Magnus fuderat olim.
adieci Syriae, quos nunc moderaris, Isauros :
hos quoque sub nostris domuit Servilius arinis.
concessi Aetolos veteres Acheloiaque arva, 465

transfudi Attalicum male credula testamentum ;
Epirum retines : tu scis cui debeat illam
P)nThus. in Illyricum specto te mittere iura
ac Macetum terras : et habes tu, Paule, nepotes.
Aegypti frumenta dedi : mihi vicerat olim 470

Leucadiis Agrippa fretis. ludaea tenetur
sub dicione tua, tamquam tu miseris illuc
insignem cum patre Titum. tibi Cypria merces
fertur : pugnaces ego pauper laudo Catones.
Dorica te tellus et Achaica rura tremiscunt, 475

475. rura Mohr : iura.

^ Three Persian kings had borne the name Sapor (Shapur),
but Sidonius uses it to denote any Persian, or rather Parthian,
king or prince. It was Pacorus, son of Orodes I, who was
defeated and slain by P. Ventidius Bassus in 38 B.C. See
n. on 7. 99.

2 Attalus III of Pergamum, who died in 133 B.C., be-
queathed, or was said to have bequeathed, his dominions to
the Romans ; hence arose the Roman province of Asia.

3 L. AemiUus PauUus defeated Perseus of Macedon at
Pydna (168 B.C.).

48

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

thus deserve that thou protect mine old age? All
that lies between Euphrates and Tigris thou hast
long possessed alone ; yet that possession was bought
by me with the blood of Crassus ; at Carrhae I paid
down the price ; nor did I remain unavenged nor
lose the land thus bought ; if my word is not good,
Sapor 1 hath proved it, slain by Ventidius. Nor is
this enough. I gave up the Armenias and Pontus —
by what martial might assailed, let Sulla tell thee ;
perchance one man's word is not enough, then ask
Lucullus. I keep silence now about all the Cyclades
— but Crete, which my Metellus won, is thrall to thee.
I made over to thee the Cilicians, yet Magnus had
routed them long ago. To Syria I added the Isaur-
ians, whom thou governest now, yet these likewise
Servilius subdued beneath our arms. I yielded up
to thee Aetolia's ancient race and the lands where
Achelous flows ; with ill-starred trustfulness I handed
over to thee the bequest of Attalus.^ Thou dost
hold Epirus, though thou knowest who won the title
to it from Pyrrhus. I see thee extending thy rule
to Illyricum and the land of the Macedonians, and
yet descendants of Paulus ^ still live. I gave thee the
corn of Egypt, though Agrippa had conquered the
land for me long since in the strait of Leucas.* Judea
is held beneath thy sway, as if it were thou that hadst
sent there the glorious Titus and his sire. To thee is
the revenue of Cyprus brought, while I in poverty
belaud my warlike Catos.^ The Dorian land and
Achaia's fields tremble before thee, and thou stretch-

* i.e. at the battle of Actium.

^ The younger Cato (" Uticensis ") was sent to Cyprus in
58 B.C. to annex the island.

49

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

tendis et in bimarem felicia regna Corinthon :
die, Byzantinus quis rem tibi Mummius egit ?
*' Sed si forte placet veteres sopire querellas,
Anthemium concede mihi. sit partibus istis
Augustus longumque Leo ; mea iura gubernet 480
quern petii ; patrio vestiri murice natam
gaudeat Euphemiam sidus divale parentis,
adice praeterea privatum ad publica foedus :
sit socer Augustus genero Ricimere beatus ;
nobilitate micant : est vobis regia virgo, 485

regius ille mihi. si concors annuis istud,
mox Libyam sperare dabis. circumspice taedas
antiquas : par nulla tibi sic copula praesto est.
proferat hie veterum thalamos discrimine partos
Graecia, ni pudor est : reparatis Pisa quadrigis 490
suscitet Oenomaum, natae quem fraude cadentem
cerea destituit resolutis axibus obex ;
procedat Colchis prius agnita virgo marito
crimine quam sexu ; spectet de carcere circi
pallentes Atalanta procos et poma decori 495

Hippomenis iam non pro solo colligat auro ;
Deianira, tuas Achelous gymnade pinguis
inlustret taedas et ab Hercule pressus anhelo

1 See 195-7.

* Alypia, daughter of Anthemius, was married to Ricimer
in 467 A.D. Sidonius reached Rome in the midst of the
celebrations (Epist. I. 5. 10).

^ i.e. by the defeat of Geiserio.

* Cf. 14. 12, 23. 392.

' Medea : crimine refers to the murder of her brother
Absyrtus (see 5. 132-7).

* i.e. not merely on account of the gold, as on the first
occasion, but because she would fain have Hippomenes win.

' Cf. 11. 87, 14. 16-20. The struggle of Achelous with
Hercules for the possession of Deianira is often mentioned in

50

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

est thy prosperous sovereignty to where Corinth
lies between the two seas : pray tell me this — what
Byzantine Mummius did this work for thee ?

" But if haply it please thee to lay old grievances to
rest, grant me Anthemius. In these lands let Leo
be emperor, and long may he reign! But let my
laws be in the hands of him whom I have asked of
thee ; and let the star of her deified father rejoice
that Euphemia his daughter is robed in the purple
of her ancestors ! ^ Add also a private compact to
our public one : let a parent who is Emperor be
blessed by having his daughter wedded to Ricimer.^
Both shine with the lustre of high rank ; in her ye
have a royal lady, in him I have a man of royal blood.
If thou dost willingly agree to this, thou shalt permit
me to hope for Libya ^ anon. Survey the nuptials
of olden time, and no union such as this event can
offer itself to thy view. Here let Greece bring
forward, unless she be ashamed, those marriages of
her ancients which were won by peril. Let Pisa
bring back her four-horse chariot and revive Oeno-
maus,* who fell by a daughter's guile, when the waxen
linch-pins betrayed him, unloosing the axles ; let
the maid of Colchis^ come forward, who was brought
to her husband's knowledge by her crime before he
knew her as a woman ; let Atalanta gaze on her
pale suitors from the starting-place in the circus and
no longer gather the apples of the comely Hippomenes
for their gold alone ® ; let Achelous, with the oil of
the wrestling-school upon him, glorify the nuptials of
Deianira,^ and, clasped tightly by the panting Her-

ancient literature. See Sir J. G. Frazer's n, on Apollodorus II.
7. 5 (Vol. I, p. 256 in this series). Gymnade pinguis is oddly
used of a river-deity.

51

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

lassatum foveat rivis rivalibus hostem :
quantumvis repetam veteris conubia saecli, 500

transcendunt hie heroas, heroidas ilia,
hos thalamos, Ricimer, Virtus tibi pronuba poscit
atque Dionaeam dat Martia laurea myrtum.
ergo age, trade virum non otia pigra foventem
deliciisque gravem, sed quern modo nauticus urit 505
aestus Abydenique sinus et Sestias ora
Hellespontiacis circumelamata procellis ;
quas pelagi fauces non sic tenuisse vel ilium
crediderim cui ruptus Athos, cui remige Medo
turgida silvosam currebant vela per Alpem ; 510

nee Lucullanis sic haec freta cincta carinis,
segnis ad insignem sedit cum Cyzicon hostis,
qui cogente fame cognata cadavera mandens
vixit morte sua. sed quid mea vota retardo ?
trade magis." 515

Tum pauca refert Tithonia coniunx :
" due age, sancta parens, quamquam mihi maximus

usus
invieti summique ducis, dum mitior exstes
et non disiunetas melius moderemur habenas.
nam si forte placet veterum meminisse laborum,
et qui pro patria vestri pugnaret luli, 520

ut nil plus dicam, prior hinc ego Memnona misi."

P'inierant ; geminas iunxit Concordia partes,
electo tandem potitur quod principe Roma.

^ Anthemius was in command of the fleet in the Hellespont
when called to the Imperial throne.

' Xerxes.

' Sidonius is wrong. It was Mithridates who commanded
the sea throughout his disastrous siege of Cyzicus (74-73 B.C.),
though his ships could not save him from famine. See also
22. 163-168.

52

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

cules, refresh his wearied a dversaryvvith spiteful spate :
recall as I may the marriages of the olden time, this
man excels all the god-descended heroes, she the
heroines. Valour hath this union in her charge ;
she demands it for thee, Ricimer, and thus the laurel
of Mars bestows on thee the myrtle of Venus. Come
then, deliver to me this man who neither cherishes
lazy ease nor is numbed by indulgence, but who even
now is harassed by the heaving deep,^ by the bay of
Abydos and the shore of Sestos with the tempests of
the Hellespont roaring all around. Not so firmly,
methinks, was this narrow sea held even by him^
who burst through Athos and with his Median oars-
men made his swelling sails rush through wooded
mountains ; nor was this strait so hemmed by
Lucullus' ships 3 when before famed Cyzicus idly
lingered that enemy who when hunger pressed him
devoured the bodies of his kin and thus lived by the
death of his own. But why do I delay the fulfilment
of my prayer ? Rather deliver him now to me ! "

Then answered Tithonus' spouse in these few
words : " Come, take him, reverend mother, although
I have great need of a mighty and unconquerable
leader, — provided that thou wilt now show thyself
more kindly, and so we may better wield the reins
in joint control. For if haply it please thee to
remember the toils of olden days, I was before thee —
to mention but this — in sending Memnon * hence to
fight for the native land of your lulus."

They had finished, and Concord united the two
sides, for Rome at length gained the emperor of her

* Memnon, who appears in post-Homeric accounts as an
ally of the Trojans, was the son of Tithonus and Eos (Aurora).

53

VOL. I. E

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

nunc aliquos voto simili vel amore, vetustas,

te legisse crepa, numquam non invida summis 525

emeritisque viris. Brenni contra arma Camillum

profer ab exilio Cincinnatoque secures

expulso Caesone refer flentemque parentem

a rastris ad rostra roga, miseroque tumultu

pelle prius, quos victa petas ; si ruperit Alpes 530

Poenus, ad adflictos condemnatosque recurre ;

improbus ut rubeat Barcina clade Metaurus,

multatus tibi consul agat, qui milia fundens

Hasdrubalis, rutilum sibi cum fabricaverit ensera,

concretum gerat ipse caput, longe altera nostri 535

gratia iudicii est : scit se non laesus amari.

Sed mea iam nimii propellunt carbasa flatus ;
siste, Camena, modos tenues, portumque petenti
iara placido sedeat mihi carminis ancora fundo.
ai tamen, o princeps, quae nunc tibi classis et
arma 540

tractentur, quam magna geras quam tempore parvo,
si mea vota deus produxerit, ordine recto
aut genero bis mox aut te ter consule dicam.

537. sed Luetjokann : et.

^ Camillus was exiled on a charge of having made an unfair
division of the booty taken at Veii (Liv. V. 32. 8).

2 Caeso, son of the great L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, was
exiled, and a heavy fine was imposed upon him, which his
father had to pay (Liv. III. 11-14). Three years later (458
B.C.), Cincinnatus was summoned from the plough to the
dictatorship in order to rescue the Romans from the Aequians
(Liv. III. 26-29).

' M. Livius Salinator, consul in 219 B.C., condemned on
a charge similar to that brought against Camillus (n. on v. 527),
retired from Rome to the country and took no part in public

54

II. PANEGYRIC ON ANTHEMIUS

choice. And now, Antiquity, thou who art ever
jealous of the greatest men and greatest benefactors,
prate if thou wilt of choices made by thee with
like eagerness and affection ! Bring Camillus ^ forth
from his exile to confront the arms of Brennus ; give
Cincinnatus the fasces once more after banishing
Caeso, invite the weeping parent from the rake
to the rostra,2 and in miserable discord drive men out,
only to seek their help in thine hour of defeat!
Should the Carthaginian have burst the Alps asunder,
have recourse to men that have been broken and
condemned ; if the insatiate Metaurus is to be
reddened by the defeat of Barca's son, let a consul
thou hast fined do the work for thee, and as he routs
Hasdrubal's thousands, let him who has fashioned a
bloody sword for his use himself show an unkempt
head.^ Far different is the graciousness of our
choice ; he has never been wronged, but knows that
he is loved.*

But now too strong are the breezes that drive my
sails before them. Check, O Muse, my humble
measures, and as I seek the harbour let the anchor
of my song settle at last in a calm resting-place.
Yet of the fleet and forces that thou, O prince, art
handling and of the great deeds thou doest in little
time I, if God further my prayers, shall tell in order
due in the second consulship of thy daughter's

affairs until he was compelled to return in 210 B.C. He came
in the guise of disgrace and mourning, with unkempt hair
and matted beard and in shabby attire (Liv. XXVII. 34. 5).
He was made consul for the year 207 with C. Claudius Nero,
with whom he shared in the victory over Hasdrubal at the
Metaurus.

* i.e. he has not had to suffer injury, hke those old Romans,
before gaining the love of the people.

55

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

nam modo nos iam festa vocant, et ad Vlpia poscunt
te fora, donabis quos libertate, Quirites, 545

quorum gaudentes exceptant verbera malae.
perge, pater patriae, felix atque omine fausto
captives vincture novos absolve vetustos.

Ill
AD LIBELLVM

Quid faceret laetas segetes, quod tempus amandum

messibus et gregibus, vitibus atque apibus,
ad Maecenatis quondam sunt edita nomen ;

hinc, Maro, post audes arma virumque loqui.
at mihi Petrus erit Maecenas temporis huius ; 5

nam famae pelagus sidere curro suo.
si probat, emittit, si damnat carmina, celat,

nee nos ronchisono rhinocerote notat.
i, liber : hie nostrum tutatur, crede, pudorem ;

hoc censore etiam displicuisse placet. 10

1 Ricimer had been consul in a.d. 459.

2 The forum of Trajan. The public manumission of some
slaves was regularly performed by the consuls when they
entered upon their office. Cf. Claud. IV. Cons. Hon.. 612-618.
The ceremony included the traditional blow on the cheek
(alapa), the significance of which is uncertain. See Mr.
R. G. Nisbet's interesting paper in J.R.S. VIII. 1., pp. 1-14.

' i.e. as a result of his coming victory over Geiseric.
* These two lines are partly a quotation, partly a para-
phrase, of the opening of Virgil's Georgics.

56

III. TO HIS LITTLE BOOK

husband,^ or in thy third ; but now a festival doth call
us, and thy presence at the Ulpian Forum ^ is de-
manded by those citizens-to-be on whom thou wilt
bestow liberty, whose cheeks receive their buffets with
joy. Forward, then, Father of thy country, blest of
fortune, and with happy omen release old captives,
to bind new ones anon.^

Ill

TO HIS LITTLE BOOK

What made the cornfields joyous, what season
is dear to harvest-crops and flocks, to vines and
bees,* was once declared in a poem addressed to
Maecenas ; thereafter, Maro, thou didst dare to
sing of " arms and the man." But to me Petrus ^
shall be the Maecenas of this time; for I glide
over the sea of fame under his guiding star. If he
approves my poems he lets them go forth, if he
condemns them, he suppresses them, but he never
censures me with the snorting snout of a rhinoceros.
Go, then, my book ; for believe me, he sustains my
bashfulness ; with him for censor it is a pleasure
even to have displeased.

■^ Petrus, Imperial secretary [magister epistularum) under
Majorian, a man of some literary ability (see Carm. 9. 306 sqq.,
Epist. IX. 13. 4 and the carmen which follows). He was evi-
dently instrumental in reconciling the Emperor to Sidotiius after
the trouble at Lugdunum (Introd., p. xxxvii), and also in negoti-
ating terms of surrender for the besieged Gallo-Romans and
their Burgundian allies ; see 5. 564-573.

57

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS
IV

PRAEFATIO PANEGYRICI DICTI DOMINO

IMPERATORI CAESARI IVLIO VALERIO

MAIORIANO AVGVSTO

Tityrus ut quondam patulae sub tegmine fagi

volveret inflates murmura per calamos,
praestitit adflicto ius vitae Caesar et agri,

nee stetit ad tenuem celsior ira reum ;
sed rus concessum dum largo in principe laudat, 5

caelum pro terris rustica Musa dedit ;
nee fuit inferius Phoebeia dona referre :

fecerat hie dominum, feeit et ille deum.
et tibi, Flacce, acies Bruti Cassique secuto

earminis est auctor qui fuit et veniae. 10

sic mihi diverso nuper sub Marte cadenti

iussisti invicto, victor, ut essem animo.
serviat ergo tibi servati lingua poetae

atque meae vitae laus tua sit pretium.
non ego mordaci fodiam modo dente Maronem 15

nee civem carpam, terra Sabella, tuum.
res minor ingenio nobis, sed Caesare maior ;

vincant eloquio, dummodo nos domino.

12. invicto victor Stangl, erecto victor Leo : victor victor.

^ Verg. Eel. I. 1. Tityrus is, as usual, taken to represent
Virgil.

2 Octavian, as a Triumvir, might be spoken of as angry
with Cremona, which supported Brutus and suffered severely
when confiscated lands were assigned to the veterans of Phihppi.
The confiscations were extended to the territory around
Mantua, "too near, alas! to hapless Cremona" (Verg. Ec.
IX. 28), and Virgil was evicted. Thus the " wrath " of
Octavian might be said to have extended to Virgil. There is
no other authority for the statement in v. 4; probably
Sidonius is writing from a confused recollection.

58

IV. PREFACE TO MAIORIANUS

IV

PREFACE TO THE PANEGYRIC PRO-
NOUNCED IN HONOUR OF THE LORD
EMPEROR, lULIUS VALERIUS MAIORI-
ANUS, CAESAR AUGUSTUS

That Tityrus ^ of old under the canopy of a spread-
ing beech might pour forth his warblings breathed
into the reed, Caesar vouchsafed him in his hour
of distress the right to Hve and possess his land,
and the wTath of majesty endured not against an
humble offender.^ But the rustic Muse, praising
thus a bounteous prince for a farm restored, gave
in return for that earthly boon a place in heaven;
nor was such repayment with the gifts of Phoebus
too poor a recompense, for whereas the one man
had made the poet a master of lands, the poet
made him a god. To Flaccus likewise, when he had
followed the campaigns of Brutus and Cassius, he
who was the source of his pardon was also the source j\

of his song.3 So it is with me ; laid prostrate not^ [L^^^
long since in the ranks of thy foe, I was bidden by \ ^-^^
thee, my conqueror, to keep an unconquered spirit.^ ^ ^
So let the tongue of a poet thus preserved yield its
service to thee, and let my praises be the recom-
pense for my life. I will not now fix a malignant
tooth in Maro or carp at the citizen of the Sabine
country. My work must needs be less than theirs
in talent, but it is greater in its Caesar. Let them
surpass me in the power of utterance, so long as I
surpass them in my lord and master.

' If this refers to Maecenas, the statement is incredible;
Horace was first introduced to Maecenas in 38 b.c. But, as
Geisler says (p. 11, n. 5), the context suggests that the reference
is to Octavian.

59

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

PANEGYRICVS

Concipe praeteritos, respublica, mente triumphos :
imperium iam consul habet, quern purpura non plus
quam lorica operit, cuius diademata frontem
non luxu sed lege tegunt, meritisque laborum
post palmam palmata venit ; decora omnia regni 5
accumulant fasces et princeps consule crescit.
personat ergo tuum caelo, rure, urbibus, undis
exsultans Europa sophos, quod rector haberis,
victor qui fueras. fateor, trepidaverat orbis
dum non vis vicisse tibi nimioque pudore 10

quod regnum mereare doles tristique repulsa
non moderanda subis quae defendenda putasti.

Sederat exserto bellatrix pectore Roma,
cristatum turrita caput, cui pone capaci
casside prolapsus perfundit terga capillus. 15

^ Delivered at Lugdunum late in the year 458. See
Introd., p. xxxvii.

2 The tunica palmata : n. on 2. 6 f .

' These words seem to be a flattering reference to the
interval between April 1 and December 28, 457. The date
of Majorian's accession is a vexed problem; see Stein, p.
554 n. and N. Baynes in Journ. Bom. Stud. XII (1922),
pp. 223 f. and XVIII (1928), pp. 224 f. The scanty evidence
available seems to indicate that on April 1 b was proclaimed
by the soldiers with the connivance of '/•"<, the eastern
Emperor, but that his formal adoption b;. ^late, army and
people did not take place until December T'^ Sidonius {v. 388,
collega) tells us that Leo gave his assent on the latter occasion.
This was strictly necessary (see n. 6 on p. 7), and there

6o

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

PANEGYRIC 1

Picture to your minds, O Roman people, all your
past triumphs ; now a consul holds the imperial
power, one whom the hauberk clothes no less than
the purple, whose brow is wTeathed with the diadem
not through vain parade but through lawful power,
and to whom as reward of his toils doth come the
palm-decked robe ^ after the victor's palm. Now the
fasces crown all the splendours of sovereignty, and
the prince is magnified in the consul. Therefore
jubilant Europe shouts a " bravo " for thee, echoing
through sky and countryside and cities and waters,
since thou who wert a conqueror art now greeted as
ruler. I confess it, the world trembled with alarm
while thou wert loth that thy victories should benefit
thee, and with overmuch modesty wert grieved that
thou didst deserve the throne, and so with a woful
refusal wouldst not undertake to rule that which
thou hadst deemed worth defending.^

Rome, the warrior-goddess, had taken her seat.
Her breast was uncovered, on her plumed head was
a crown of towers, and behind her, escaping from
under her spacious helmet, her hair flowed over her

seems to be no cogent reason for doubting the poet's assertion.
Stein rather arbitrarily takes the mention of Leo to refer to
April 1, while implicitly admitting that the reference in the
same sentence to " commons, Senate and army " apphes
only to December 28. The attitude of Leo does seem to have
been wavering and baffling, and may well have made Majorian
hesitate, but it is very doubtful if Majorian would have com-
mitted himself irrevocably on December 28 without at least a
formal assent from the eastern Emperor.

6i

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

laetitiam censura manet terrorque pudore
crescit, et invita superat virtute venustas.
ostricolor pepli textus, quern fibula torto
mordax dente forat ; turn quidquid mamma refundit
tegminis, hoc patulo concludit gemma recessu. 20
hinc fulcit rutilus spatioso circite laevum
umbo latus ; videas hie crasso fusa metallo
antra Rheae fetamque lupam, quam fauce retecta
blandiri quoque terror erat ; quamquam ilia vorare
Martigenas et picta timet ; pars proxima Thybrim 25
exprimit ; hie scabri fusus sub pumice tofi
proflabat madidum per guttura glauca soporem ;
pectus palla tegit, quam neverat Ilia coniunx,
liquenti quae iuncta toro vult murmura lymphis
tollere et undosi somnum servare mariti. 30

ista micant clipeo ; cuspis trabe surgit eburna,
ebria caede virum. propter Bellona tropaeum
exstruit et quercum captivo pondere curvat.
consurgit solium saxis quae caesa rubenti
Aethiopum de monte cadunt, ubi sole propinquo 35
nativa exustas adflavit purpura rupes.
iungitur hie Synnas, Nomadum lapis additur istic,
antiquum mentitus ebur ; post caute Laconum
marmoris herbosi radians interviret ordo.

19. forat Wilamowitz : vorat.

^ Compare the shorter description ofRome's shield, 2. 395 sq.

* The reference is to lapis Syenites, a red granite quarried
near Syene (Assouan), on the Egyptian side of the Ethiopian
border. Syene was supposed to lie on the tropic ; its heat was
proverbial. See also Epist. II. 2. 7. For similar lists of
stones see 11. 17-19, 22. 136-141, Epist. II. loc. cit.

62

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

back. She has a sternness ready to rebuke exulta-
tion, her modest mien but makes her more terrible,
and her valour is loth to see her beauty triumph.
Purple-hued is her robe, which a clasp pierces with
the bite of its twisted tooth ; that part of her mantle
which her breast throws off is gathered up by a
jewel under her ample bosom. Here a glowing shield^
of vast circumference supports her left side. Thereon
can be seen, cast in thick metal, the cave of Rhea,
and the mother-wolf, whose very caresses were fear-
some with those open jaws — yet even in her pictured
guise she is afraid to devour the sons of Mars. The
near side figures Tiber, outstretched under a porous
rock of scaly tuif and breathing forth his humid
slumber through his grey-green throat. His breast
is covered with a robe which his wife Ilia had spun,
and she, close to that dripping couch, would fain
stop the plashing and guard the sleep of her watery
mate. Such are the pictures that sparkle on the
shield. Her spear, set on an ivory shaft, towered
up, drunk with the slaughter of men. Near by
Bellona was building up a trophy and making an
oak tree bend Avdth the weight of captured spoils.
The lofty throne was fashioned of the stones that
are quarried and lowered from the ruddy Aethi-
opian mount, where the sun is nigh and thus a
natural purple has tinged the seared crags,^ Here
Synnadian, there Numidian marble, that counter-
feits old ivory ,3 was added; after these the grass-
hued marble from Laconian scaur interposed a row
of radiant green.

• Numidian marble {" giallo antico ") " varies in colour from
the faintest straw tint to deep shades of rich yellow." (M. W.
Porter, What Borne was built mth, p. 37.)

63

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Ergo ut se mediam solio dedit, advolat omnis 40
terra simul. turn quaeque suos provincia fructus
exposuit : fert Indus ebur, Chaldaeus amomum,
Assyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, tura Sabaeus,
Atthis mel, Phoenix palnias, Lacedaemon olivum,
Areas equos, Epirus equas, pecuaria Callus, 45

arma Chalybs, frumenta Libys, Campanus lacchum,
aurum Lydus, Arabs guttam, Panchaia myrrham,
Pontus castorea, blattam Tyrus, aera Corinthus ;
Sardinia argentum, naves Hispania defert
fulminis et lapidem ; scopulos iaculabile fulgur 50
fucat et accensam silicem fecunda maritat
ira deum ; quotiens caelum se commovet illic,
plus ibi terra valet.

Subito flens Africa nigras
procubuit lacerata genas et cernua frontem
iam male fecundas in vertice fregit aristas 55

ac sic orsa loqui : " venio pars tertia mundi,
infelix felice uno. famula satus olim
hie praedo et dominis exstinctis barbara dudum
sceptra tenet tellure mea penitusque fugata
nobilitate furens quod non est non amat hospes. 60
o Latii sopite vigor, tua moenia ridet
insidiis cessisse suis : non concutis hastam ?
non pro me vel capta doles ? tua nempe putantur

56. loqui est codd. plerique.

^ This stone was probably a kind of cat's-eye. Accord-
ing to one popular belief it was foiuid only in places which
had been struck by lightning (Isid. Etym. XVT. 13. 6. Some
said this only of a rare variety of thunder-stone : Plin. N.H,
xxxvii. 135). The stone was called cerauniua (so. lapis)^
ceraunia (sc. gemma), or ceraunium.

^ Or possibly "becomes more precious.'*

8 Cf. 2. 358 sq.

64

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

So when she had seated her on the throne in the
midst, all lands flocked to her at once. The provinces
display their several fruits ; the Indian brings ivory,
the CJhaldaean nard, the Assyrian jewels, the China-
man silk, the Sabaean frankincense ; Attica brings
honey, Phoenicia palms, Sparta oil, Arcadia horses,
Epirus mares, Gaul flocks and herds, the Chalybian
arms, the Libyan corn, the Campanian wine, the
Lydian gold, the Arab amber, Panchaia myrrh,
Pontus castory, Tyre purple, and Corinth bronzes ;
Sardinia offers silver, Spain ships and the thunder-
stone ^ — for there the flashing levin-bolt stains the
rocks, and the fertilising wrath of the gods impreg-
nates the heated flint : whensoever in that clime the
sky stirs itself to fury, the earth there waxes stronger. 2

Of a sudden Africa flung herself down weeping,
with her swarthy cheeks all torn. Bowing her fore-
head she broke the corn-ears that crowned her, ears
whose fruitfulness was now her bane ; and thus she
began: " I come, a third part of the world, unfor-
tunate because one man is fortunate. This man,
son of a slave-woman,^ hath long been a robber ; he
hath blotted out our rightful lords, and for many a
day hath melded his barbarian sceptre in my land,
and having driven our nobility utterly away this
stranger loves nothing that is not mad.* O slumber-
ing energy of Latium ! He makes scornful boast that
thy walls yielded to his cunning.^ Wilt thou not then
brandish the spear ? Dost thou not grieve for me, even
though thou too hast been captured ? In sooth it is

* There is a double meaning in nobilitas {nohles and nobleness) :
he has driven away all that is noble and loves only what is mad.

^ The Vandals under Geiseric sacked Rome in June, a.d.
455. Insidiis may contain a reference to the suspected collusion
of Geiseric with the Empress Eudoxia. See Bury I. 324.

65

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

surgere fata malis et celsior esse ruina ;

sed melius, quod terror abit : iam vincere restat, 65

si pugnas ut victa soles. Porsenna superbum

Tarquinium impingens complevit milite Tusco

laniculum quondam ; sed dum perrumpere portas

obsidione parat totam te pertulit uno

Coclitis in clipeo ; presserunt milia solum 70

multa virum pendente via ; nee ponte soluto

cum caderet cecidit. rex idem denique morte

admonitus scribae didicit sibi bella moveri

non solum cum bella forent ; mox pace petita

in regnum rediit, non tam feriente fugatus 75

quam flagrante viro. steterat nam corde gelato

Scaevola et apposito dextram damnaverat igni,

plus felix peccante manu, cum forte satelles

palleret constante reo tormentaque capti

is fugeret qui tortor erat. Brennum tremuisti, 80

post melior: quodcumque tuum est, quodcumque

vocaris,
iam solus Tarpeius erat ; sed reppulit unus
turn quoque totam aciem, Senones dum garrulus

anser
nuntiat et vigilat vestrum sine milite fatum.
me quoque (da veniam quod bellum gessimus olim) 85
post Trebiam Cannasque domas, Romanaque tecta
Hannibal ante meus quam nostra Scipio vidit.

65. quo codd. plerique.

1 Cf. 7. 5, Hor. Garm. iv. 4. 57-68, etc.

2 corde gelato, which should refer to fear (Luc. VII. 339),
here means " perfectly cool." There is a characteristically
absurd contrast between the coolness of Scaevola and the heat
of the fire.

66

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

believed that thy fortunes are exalted by ills and that
a fall makes thee rise all the higher ;^ but now thy case
is better, for the menace hath departed from thee ;
now victory awaits thee if thou but fight as thou
art wont to fight after defeats. Once Porsenna,
forcing Tarquin the Proud upon thee, filled Jani-
culum with Tuscan soldiery ; but as he made ready
by siege to break through thy gates, he met in the
one shield of Codes the whole of thee. Myriads
bore hard upon that lone man while the passage
across hung doubtful ; and when the bridge was
broken he fell, yet did not fall. The selfsame king
at last took warning from his scribe's death and
learned that he was being warred against not only
when war was raging ; thereupon he sought peace
and returned to his kingdom, driven back less by a
man's blow than by his burning. For Scaevola
had stood with heart cool as ice^ and doomed his
right hand to the fire near by (happier he in that
his hand struck in error), while the retainer grew
pale as he saw the offender's courage, and the
torturer fled from the prisoner's tortures. Thou
didst quake before Brennus,^ though later thou wast
more than his match. It had come to such a pass
that all the possessions and all the name thou now
enjoy est were bound up in the Tarpeian mount *
alone ; but then also one man drove back a whole
host, when the cackling goose announced the Senones
and thy destiny kept watch without warriors. Me
also (forgive me that I warred with thee aforetime)
thou didst crush after the Trebia and Cannae, yet
my Hannibal viewed Rome's roofs ere Scipio saw

' The Gaul who captured Rome (390 B.C.).
* i.e. the Capitol, which was not taken.

67

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quid merui ? fatis cogor tibi bella movere,

cum volo, cum nolo, trepidus te territat hostis,

sed tutus claudente freto, velut hispidus alta 90

sus prope tesqua iacet claususque cacuminat albis

OS nigrum telis gravidum ; circumlatrat ingens

turba canum, si forte velit concurrere campo ;

ille per obiectos vepres tumet atque superbit,

vi tenuis fortisque loco, dum proximus ' heia ! ' 95

venator de coUe sonet : vox nota magistri

lassatam reparat rabiem ; turn vulnera caecus

fastidit sentire furor, quid proelia differs ?

quid mare formidas, pro cuius saepe triumphis

et caelum pugnare solet ? quid quod tibi princeps 100

est nunc eximius, quem praescia saecula clamant

venturum excidio Libyae, qui tertius ex me

accipiet nomen ? debent hoc fata labori,

Maioriane, tuo. quem cur conscendere classem

ac portus intrare meos urbemque subire, 105

si iubeas, cupiam, paucis ex ordine fabor.

" Fertur, Pannoniae qua Martia pollet Acincus,
lUyricum rexisse solum cum tractibus Histri
huius avus ; nam Theudosius, quo tempore Sirmi
Augustum sumpsit nomen, per utramque magistrum

101. sic codd. Bernetisis et Paris. 2782: nuncpraetura (prae-
terea M) eximius quem saecula ceteri.

^ Probably a reference to the defeat of the Vandals ofE
Corsica in a.d. 456 (n. on 2. 367).

^ Rather an unfortunate expression, coming from the
lips of Africa; but Sidonius, like his model Virgil {Aen. I.
22), is thinking of the conquest of Carthage. . Carthage was
Geiseric's capital.

^ i.e. after the two Scipios. Nomen refers to the honorary
surname Africaniis.

68

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

ours. Wliat is my fault ? I am compelled by some
fate to stir up wars against thee, when I will it and
when I will it not. It is a frightened foe that
frights thee now,i but he is guarded by the enclosing
sea, as a shaggy boar lies low on the edge of the
wild and, thus shut in, sharpens the white weapons
wherewith his black jaws are loaded: around him
barks a great pack of hounds, hoping he may choose
to give them battle in the open plain, but he amid
his barrier of briers swells with insolence, poor in
dash but strong in situation, till the huntsman
coming near shouts from the hill * Have at him ' ;
then the master's well-known voice revives the jaded
fury of the dogs to a blind frenzy that scorns to feel
wounds. Why dost thou delay the fight? Why
dost thou fear the sea, when even heaven is wont
so oft to battle for thy victories ? And hast
thou not now a peerless prince, whom the pro-
phetic ages proclaim as destined for Libya's de-
struction,'^ and who shall be the third ^ to get an
added name from me ? To thy toil, Majorian, fate
owes this guerdon. And the reason why I desire,
if thou shouldst so bid, that he embark with his
fleet and sail into my harbours and enter my city —
this I will briefly declare in due order.

" 'Tis recorded that, where stands in all its might
the martial city of Acincus * in Pannonia, his grand-
father ruled the land of lUyricum together with the
Danube-regions : for Theodosius, when he took the
name of Augustus at Sirmium,^ before setting forth

* Acincus (more usually Aquincum, Aquinquum or Acin-
cum), a town in Pannonia Inferior on the right bank of the
Danube; mod. Alt-Ofen or O'-Buda.

* Sirmium, modern Mitrovitza, capital of Pannonia Inferior,

69

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

militiam ad partes regni venturus Eoas 111

Maiorianum habuit. Latiis sunt condita fastis

facta ducis quotiens Scythicis inlata colonis

classica presserunt Hypanim, Peucenque rigentem

mente salutatis inrisit lixa pruinis. 115

hunc socerum pater huius habet, vir clarus et imo

culmine militiae semper contentus, ut unum

casibus in dubiis iunctus sequeretur amicum.

non semel oblatis temptavit fascibus ilium

Actio rapere aula suo, sed perstitit ille, 120

maior honoratis : coepit pretiosior esse

sic pretio non capta fides, erat ille quod olim

quaestor consulibus : tractabat publica iure

aera suo : tantumque modum servabat ut ilium

narraret rumor iam rebus parcere nati. 125

" Senserat hoc sed forte ducis iam livida coniunx
augeri famam pueri, suffusaque bili
coxerat internum per barbara corda venenum.
ilicet explorat caelum totamque volutis
percurrit mathesim numeris, interrogat umbras, 130
fulmina rimatur, fibras videt, undique gaudens
secretum rapuisse deo. sic torva Pelasgum
Colchis in aplustri steterat trepidante marito
115. vid. Class. Quart, loc. cit. p. 17.

^ His name was Domninus.

2 He must have controlled the war-chest of Aetius. His
office is compared with that of the quaestor consulis in republican
Rome. This official accompanied his chief to war and after-
wards to his province; his duties were mainly financial.
Hodgkin, II. 404, wrongly says that Domninus was quaestor.
Apart from other considerations, the words of Sidonius himself
imply that the official designation of Domninus, whatever it
may have been, w as certainly not quaestor.

70

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

to the eastern parts of the realm, had a Majorian
as his Master of Both Services. The exploits of this
leader have been inscribed in Rome's public annals
whensoever his troops were launched against the
Scythian landsmen and marched over the Hypanis,
and even the camp-followers mocked at frozen
Pence, bidding welcome to the frosts. This leader's
daughter was married to our prince's father,^ a
renowned man who was content to the end with a
single high office in the imperial service, that he
might follow one single friend and cling to him in
times of jeopardy. Not once but oft the court
strove with offers of the consulship to steal him from
his Aetius, but he stood firm, a greater man than
those who received these dignities ; and a loyalty
which no price could tempt came to be held more
precious. He was what of old the quaestor was to
the consuls ; ^ he controlled the public funds by right
of his office ; and such moderation did he maintain
that rumour declared he was thus early saving the
future possessions of his son.

" But as it chanced, the wife of the leader ,3
already jealous, had perceived that the youth's
renown was thus waxing greater, and, filled with
spleen, she had nursed the hidden venom in her
barbarian heart. So now she searches the sky,
casting up numbers and exhausting the astrologer's
lore ; she questions ghosts, explores the thunder-
bolts, and gazes at entrails, rejoicing to wrest God's
secret purpose from every source. Even thus
grimly had stood the Colchian woman * on the stern

' The young Majorian got his first taste of military service
under Aetius. The explanation here given of his sudden
dismissal may be merely a piece of popular gossip.

* Cf. 2. 493.

71

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Absyrtum sparsura patri facturaque caesi
germani plus morte nefas, dum funere pugnat 135
et fratrem sibi tela facit ; vel cum obruit ignem
taurorum plus ipsa calens texitque trementem
frigida flamma virum, quem defendente veneno
inter flagrantes perhibent alsisse iuvencos.

" Ergo animi dudum impatiens, postquam audiit isti
imperium et longum statui, laniata lacertos 141

ingreditur, qua strata viri, vocemque furentem
his rupit : ' secure iaces, oblite tuorum,
o piger : et mundo princeps (sic saecula poscunt)
Maiorianus erit ; clamant hoc sidera signis, 145

hoc homines votis. isti quid sidera quaero,
fatum aliud cui fecit amor ? nil fortius illo,
et puer est cupidus numquam, sed parcus habendi ;
pauper adhuc iam spargit opes, ingentia suadet
consilia et sequitur, totum quod cogitat altum est,
urget quod sperat. ludum si forte retexam, 151

consumit quidquid iaculis fecisse putaris
istius una dies : tribus hunc tremuere sagittis
anguis, cervus, aper. non sic libravit in hostem
spicula qui nato serpentis corpore cincto 155

plus timuit cum succurrit, dum iactibus isdem
interitum vitamque daret stabilemque teneret
corde tremente manum, totamque exiret in artem

152. consumpsit LM.

^ Alcon. Cf. 183. The son whom he saved was Phalerus,
one of the Argonauts,

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

of the Grecian ship in the presence of her terrified
husband, ready to throw Absyrtus in pieces at his
father and commit a horror worse than her brother's
murder, as she used a corpse for battle and made
missiles of her own kin : so too when, herself burn-
ing with a fiercer warmth, she quenched the fire of
the bulls, and chilled was the flame that enwrapped
her trembling lover, who, they say, through the
protection of a magic drug, felt cold amid the blazing
cattle.

** So after long chafing, when she heard that
the sovereignty was ordained even from of old
for that youth, she tore her arms and entered thus
where her lord's couch stood, and broke forth into
these frenzied cries : ' Heedless thou liest there,
sluggard, oblivious of thine own, and Majorian (for
so the ages claim) is to be the world's chief; the
stars proclaim this by signs and mankind by their
prayers. Why do I search for stars baneful to him for
whom love has created another destiny ? No power is
stronger than love. And the youth is never covetous,
but is moderate in his getting; though his wealth
as yet is slender, he is already lavish with his means.
Great plans he urges and follows. All his thoughts
aspire high, and he pushes forward whatever his
hopes conceive. Were I to recount his sport — one
single day of his wipes out all that thou art reputed
to have performed as bowTnan : three arrows laid
trembling before him a snake, a stag and a boar.
Not so surely was the shaft launched against the
foe by him^ who, when his son was encircled by a
serpent's body, felt a new dread in the act of succour-
ing, as he dispensed both life and destruction with
the same shot, keeping a steady hand with a quaking
heart, and as hope drew closer his fear found relief

73

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

spe propiore metus, dans inter membra duorum

unius mortem, libeat decernere caestu : 160

cessit Eryx Siculus, simili nee floruit arte

Sparta, Therapnaea pugilem cum gymnade pinguem

stratus Bebryciis Amycus suspexit harenis.

qui vigor in pedibus ! frustra sibi natus Ophelte

Sicaniam tribuit palmam, plant asque superbas 165

baud ita per siccam Nemeen citus extulit Areas,

cuius in Aetolo volitantem pulvere matrem

horruit Hippomenes, multo qui caespite circi

contemptu praemissus erat, cum carceris antro

emicuit pernix populo trepidante virago, 170

nil toto tactura gradu, cum pallidus ille

respiceret medium post se decrescere campum

et longas ad signa vias flatuque propinquo

pressus in hostili iam curreret anxius umbra,

donee ad anfractum metae iam iamque relictus 175

concita ter sparso fregit vestigia pomo.

qui videt hunc equitem Ledaeum spernit alumnum

ac iuvenem, Sthenoboea, tuum, cui terga vetustas

pennati largitur equi Lyciamque Chimaeram

quem superasse refert, vulnus cum sustulit unum 180

tres animas. vitam tum si tibi fata dedissent,

Maioriane ferox, vetuisses Castora frenos,

Pollucem caestus, Alconem spicula nosse,

^ Son of Aphrodite and Butes and founder of the town and
temple of Eryx, in Sicily, according to some accounts; but
the legends about him vary a great deal. His prowess as a
boxer is referred to by Virgil, Aen. V. 391 f., 401 ff. ; vv.
410-414 mention the boxing contest in which Hercules
defeated and killed him. According to another version,
it was a -wTestling-bout.

^ Amycus, the boxing king of the Bebryces, vanquished by
Pollux in the course of the Argonautic expedition.

' Euryalus, son of Opheltes (Verg. ^4en. IX. 201), the victor
in the foot-race at the games celebrated in Sicily by Aeneas
{Aen. V. 315-361).

74

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

in the full exercise of his skill, dealing death to
one amid the entangled bodies of two. Or suppose
he chooses to try the issue in boxing — Sicilian Eryx^
has now yielded up his glory, nor did Sparta bloom
with such prowess when on the sand of Bebrycia the
prostrate Amycus ^ looked up at the boxer greasy
with the oil of the Laconian gymnasium. And what
power of foot is his ! In vain does the son of Opheltes ^
claim the palm won in Sicily : nor did the swift
Arcadian * so lift his proud feet as he sped over
thirsty Nemea, he whose mother, as she flitted over
the Aetolian dust, dismayed Hippomenes, con-
temptuously sent far ahead along the course, when
that fleet man-like maid dashed forth from the
mouth of the starting-pen before the breathless
throng, never to plant her whole foot anywhere,
while he with blanched cheeks looked back and saw
the intervening space behind him grow ever less,
and scanned the long distance to the goal ; and
now he felt her breath close upon him and he was
running, sore distressed, upon his adversary's
shadow, till at the turning-point he bade fair to be
left behind; then he arrested those flying steps by
thrice throwing her an apple. Whoso sees him on
horseback scorns the child of Leda ^ and Sthenoboea's
loved one,^ whom ancient story dowers with a
winged mount, telling also that he overcame the
Lycian Chimaera, destroying three lives with one
stroke. Had fate granted it to thee to live then,
gallant Majorian, thou wouldst have taken from
Castor, Pollux, and Alcon their title to mastery of

* Parthenopaeus, son of Atalanta ; he was one of the
" Seven against Thebes " and won the foot-race at the first
celebration of the Nemean games. According to another
version, he was the winner of the archery-contest.

» i.e. Castor : cf. 182. « i.e. Bellerophon : of. 184.

75

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Bellerophonteis insultaturus opimis.
si clipeum capiat, vincit Telamone creatum, 185

qui puppes inter Graias contra Hectoris ignem
ipsam etiam infidi classem defendit Vlixis.
missile si quanto iaculetur pondere quaeris,
segnius insertae trepidans pro fasce Camillae
excussit telum Metabus, nee turbine tanto 190

stridula Pelidae per Troilon exiit ornus ;
nee sic heroum tardantem busta Creontem
Atticus Aegides rupit Marathonide quercu ;
nee sic intortum violatae Phoebados ultrix
in Danaos fulmen iecit, cum Graecia Troiae 195

noctem habuit similemque faeem fixusque Capherei
cautibus inter aquas flammam ructabat Oileus.
" ' Parva loquor. quid quod, quotiens tibi bella
geruntur,
discipulus, non miles adest ? et fingit alumnum :
aemulus econtra spectat. quod viceris odit 200

et quos vincis amat. totus dormitat ad istum
magnus Alexander, patris quem gloria torsit.
quid faciam infelix ? nato quae regna parabo
cxclusa sceptris Geticis, respublica si me
praeterit et parvus super hoc Gaudentius huius 205
calcatur fatis ? istum iam Gallia laudat
quodque per Europam est. rigidis hunc abluit undis

^ Ajax, son of Telamon : see Ovid, Met. XIII. 5 ff.

« The tale of Metabus is told in Verg. Aen. XI. 539-566.

3 Theseus slew Creon, who had refused burial to Polynices
and the other assailants of Thebes. See Statius, Theh. XII.
768 £E.

* The " lesser Ajax," son of Oileus, had assaulted Cassandra
in the temple of Pallas Athena. The vengeance of the
goddess is here, as often {e.g. Verg. Aen. I. 39-45), associated
with the destruction of the returning Greek ships on Cape
Caphereus. Pallas wrecks the ships, hurling many thunder-
bolts, one of which strikes Ajax and flings him upon a pointed
rock. Facem refers to the lightning.
76

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

the bridle, the boxing-glove and the arrow, and thou
wouldst have made a mockery of Bellerophon's
proud spoils. Should he take up his shield, he sur-
passes the offspring of Telamon,^ who among the
Greek ships defended against Hector's fires even the
fleet of the treacherous Ulysses. If you ask with
what force he hurls the javelin — more feebly did
Metabus ^ fling his dart when alarmed for the bundle
that held Camilla ; with a less powerful swing did the
ashen shaft of Peleus's son pass whirring through the
body of Troilus ; not with such strength did the man
of Athens, son of Aegeus, crush with Marathonian
oak Creon, who was hindering the burial of the
heroes 3; nor was the thunderbolt sent hurtling so
violently against the Greeks by the maiden avenger
of Phoebus' wronged votary, when Greece suffered
a night such as Troy's with like flaring of brands,
and the son of Oileus,* pinned on the cliffs of
Caphereus, vomited flame amid the waters.

" * But these are trifles I speak of. There is more :
whenever thou wagest war, he is near thee as a
learner, not as a soldier, and while he professes him-
self thy pupil he looks on thee with a rival's eye.
He hates the thought that thou hast conquered, and
them that thou conquerest he loves. Compared with
him, Alexander the Great, to whom his father's glory
was torture,^ is an arrant sluggard. Unhappy me !
What shall I do? What realm shall I win for my
son, debarred as I am from a Gothic sceptre,^ if
Rome ignores me and, to crown all, our little Gauden-
tius is trodden underfoot by this youth's destiny?
Already Gaul and all Europe sound his praises. He

' See Plutarch, Alex. c. 5.

• The wife of Aetius was, or claimed to be, of royal Gothic
descent. Her father, Carpilio, was comes domesticorum under

77

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Rhenus, Arar, Rhodanus, Mosa, Matrona. Sequana

Ledus,
Clitis, Elaris, Atax, Vacalis ; Ligerimque bipenni
excisum per frusta bibit. cum bella timentes 210
defendit Turonos, aberas ; post tempore parvo
pugnastis pariter, Francus qua Cloio patentes
Atrebatum terras pervaserat. hie coeuntes
claudebant angusta vias arcuque subactum
vicum Helenam flumenque simul sub tramite longo
artus suppositis trabibus transmiserat agger. 216

illic te posito pugnabat ponte sub ipso
Maiorianus eques. fors ripae colle propinquo

214. fortaaee arcusque 8ub ictu. Vid. Class. Quart, loc. ciU
p. 18.

Honorius, and her elder son was named after him. The
younger son, Gaudentius, was named after his paternal grand-
father. He was born about 440 and in 455 was taken by
Greiseric as a prisoner to Africa, where he apparently died not
later than 462. The present passage seems to imply that
Carpilio, the elder brother of Gaudentius, was dead. He had
been a member of an embassy to Attila on behalf of Aetius
(Cassiod. Var. I. 4. 11), perhaps in a.d. 434. It may have
been on this occasion that he was detained by the Huns as a
hostage. He seems to have regained his liberty, possibly by
flight (Priscus, fr. 8, F. H. G. IV. 81). Nothing further is
known about him.

1 Ledus, the Laz, near MontpeUier. Clitis tmknown. Elaris
=■ Elaver, the Allier, a tributary of the Loire. Atax^ the Avxie.
Vacalis ( Vachalis, VacaliLS, Vahalis), the Waal.

* Tours may have been threatened by an invasion of the
Aremoricans. It is usual to connect these words with 7. 246,
where the subjugation of the Aremoricans by Litorius
(apparently in a.d. 437) is mentioned. But there was another

78

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

bathes in the icy waters of Rhine, Arar, Rhone,
Mosa, Matrona, Sequana, Ledus, Clitis, Elaris,
At ax, Vacalis ^ ; the Liger he cleaves with an axe
and drinks piece by piece. When he defended the
Turoni,^ who feared the conflict, thou wast not
there ; but a little later ye fought together where
Cloio^ the Frank had overrun the helpless lands of
the Atrebates. There was a narrow passage at
the junction of two ways, and a road crossed
both the village of Helena, which was within bow-
shot, and the river, where that long but narrow
path was supported by girders. Thou wert posted
at the cross-roads, while Majorian warred as a
mounted man close to the bridge itself.* As chance

Aremorican rising about 446, and Tours may then also
have been threatened. On the other hand, Sidonius may be
referring to an occurrence not elsewhere recorded.

' Other forms are C(h)lodio, Chlogio. The incident here
related (for which Sidonius is the only authority) is usually
dated a.d. 428 (" about the year 431," C. M. H.). This dating
is quite incompatible with the mention in v. 205 of Gaudentius
(bom about 440), taken in conjunction with the repeated
insistence on the extreme youth of Majorian (who was, indeed,
still iuvenis at the time of his accession : see v. 524) ; needless
to say, it is also incompatible with the usual explanation of
the reference to Tours (see the last note). The date was in
all probabihty after 440 and may have been several years later.
Stein (p. 493, n. 2) gives 451 as the terminiLS ante quern,

* The above rendering is given with some diffidence, but
seems preferable to any other that has been ofEered. The
meaning is that a narrow road ran from the cross-roads
through the village and was continued over the bridge which
spanned the river. The two strategic points were the cross-
roads and the bridge; there Aetius and Majorian were
respectively posted. The agger and the trames are the same
thing. Artii3 is here translated as if it agreed with tramite,
in order to bring out the antithesis of the juxtaposed adjectives
longo and artiis — a feeble "point " for the sake of which Sidonius

79

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

barbaricus resonabat hymen Scythicisque chore is
nubebat flavo similis nova nupta marito. 220

hos ergo, ut perhibent, stravit ; crepitabat ad ictus
cassis et oppositis hastarum verbera thorax
arcebat squamis, donee conversa fugatus
hostis terga dedit ; plaustris rutilare videres
barbarici vaga festa tori coniectaque passim 225

fercula captivasque dapes cirroque madente
ferre coronatos redolentia serta lebetas.
ilicet increscit Mavors thalamique refringit
plus ardens Bellona faces ; rapit esseda victor
nubentemque nurum. non sic Pholoetica monstra
atque Pelethronios Lapithas Semeleius Euan 231
miscuit, Haemonias dum flammant orgia matres
et Venerem Martemque cient ac prima cruentos
consumunt ad bella cibos Bacchoque rotato
pocula tela putant, cum crudescente tumultu 235
poUuit Emathium sanguis Centauricus Othryn.
nee plus nubigenum celebrentur iurgia fratrum :
hie quoque monstra domat, rutili qui bus arce cerebri
ad frontem coma tracta iacet nudataque cervix
saetarum per damna nitet, turn lumine glauco 240
albet aquosa acies ac vultibus undique rasis
pro barba tenues perarantur pectine cristae.

has dislocated and complicated the sentence. For a fuller
discussion see Clcias. Quart, loc. cit. pp. 17 fE. PiignabcU in v.
217 means merely "was serving," or "was under arms";
the fighting began later. Helena has not been identified with
certainty; most historians now seem to favour Helesmes
(Dep. Nord) ; other possibihties are Vieil-Hesdin and Lens.

1 Scyth., i.e. Frankish. Contrast 2. 239, 7. 246, 280, 304,
where "Scythian" refers to the Huns; 6. 329 (Vandals:
see n. on 2. 351); 7. 403, 498 (Goths).

* The Centaurs were sons or descendants of Ixion and a
cloud.

So

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

would have it, the echoing sound of a barbarian
niaiTiage-song rang forth from a hill near the river-
bank, for amid Scythian ^ dance and chorus a yellow-
haired bridegroom was wedding a young bride of
like colour. Well, these revellers, they say, he laid
low. Time after time his helmet rang with blows,
and his hauberk with its protecting scales kept off
the thrust of spears, until the enemy was forced to
turn and flee. Then might be seen the jumbled
adornments of the barbarian nuptials gleaming red
in the waggons, and captured salvers and viands
flung together pell-mell, and servants crowned with
perfumed garlands carrying \vine-bowls on their
oily top-knots. Straightw^ay the spirit of Mars
waxes fiercer and the nuptial torches are snapped
asunder by the more fiery goddess of war ; the
victor snatches their chariots and carries off the
bride in the hour of her bridal. Not so fiercely did
Bacchus, Semele's son, embroil Pholoe's monsters
and the Thracian Lapitliae, when his revels inflamed
the Thracian women, stirring up both love and war,
and they used for the struggle first of all the bloody
meats of the feast, and whirling the wine about
deemed their cups weapons ; while, as the affray
grew fiercer, the blood of Centaurs defiled Emathian
Othrys. And truly the quarrel of the cloud-born
brothers ^ deserves no more renown ; for this youth
likewise subdues monsters, on the crown of whose
red pates lies the hair that has been drawn towards
the front, while the neck, exposed by the loss of its
covering, shows bright. Their eyes are faint and
pale, with a glimmer of greyish blue. Their faces
are shaven all round, and instead of beards they
have thin moustaches which they run through with

8i

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

strictius assutae vestes procera cohercent
membra virum, patet his altato tegmine poples,
latus et angustam suspendit balteus alvum. 245

excussisse citas vastum per inane bipennes
et plagae praescisse locum clipeosque rotare
ludus et intortas praecedere saltibus hastas
inque hostem venisse prius ; puerilibus annis
est belli maturus amor, si forte premantur 250

seu numero seu sorte loci, mors obruit illos,
non timor ; invicti perstant animoque supersunt
iam prope post animam. tales te teste fugavit
et laudante viros. quisnam ferat ? omnia tecum,
te sine multa facit. pugnant pro principe cuncti :
quam timeo, ne iam iste sibi ! si regna tenebit, 256
huic vincis, quodcumque domas. nil fata relinquunt
hie medium : percussor enim si respuis esse,
servus eris. certe recto si tramite servat
sidera Chaldaeus, novit si gramina Colchus, 260

fulgura si Tuscus, si Thessalus elicit umbras,
si Lyciae sortes sapiunt, si nostra volatu
fata locuntur aves, doctis balatibus Hammon
si sanctum sub Syrte gemit, si denique verum,
Phoebe, Themis, Dodona, canis, post tempora nostra
lulius hie Augustus erit. coniunctus amore 266

praeterea est iuveni, grandis quem spiritus armat
regis avi. quo te vertas ? ad culmina mundi

1 The oracle of Apollo at Patara : Verg, Aen. IV. 346.

* The god Ammon (or Hammon) was represented as a ram,
or in human form with the head (sometimes with only the
horns) of a ram.

^ Reference to Ricirner. The " royal grandfather " is
Wallia ; see n. on 2. 362-5.
82

V. PANEGYRIC ON iMAIORIANUS

a comb. Close-fitting garments confine the tall
limbs of the men; they are drawn up high so as
to expose the knees, and a broad belt supports their
narrow middle. It is their sport to send axes hurt-
ling through the vast void and know beforehand
where the blow will fall, to whirl their shields, to
outstrip with leaps and bounds the spears they
have hurled and reach the enemy first. Even
in boyhood's years the love of fighting is full-
grown. Should they chance to be sore pressed by
numbers or by the luck of the ground, death may
overwhelm them, but not fear ; unconquerable they
stand their ground, and their courage well-nigh out-
lives their lives. Such men did he put to flight with
thee to witness and to praise. Who could endure
it? All thine exploits he shares, many more he
performs without thee. All men fight for their
emperor ; I fear, alas ! he now fights for himself. If
he should win the sovereignty, then all the con-
quests thou makest are victories for him. Here the
fates leave no middle course ; if thou refuse to be
his assassin, thou wilt be his slave. Certain is this :
if the Chaldaean goes not astray in his star-gazing,
if the Colchian has knowledge of herbs, the Tuscan
of lightning, if the Thessalian tempts forth the
ghosts of the dead, if the Lycian oracle^ hath dis-
cernment, if the birds can tell our destiny by their
flight, if Hammon nigh to the Syrtes wails forth a
hallowed rede with prescient bleatings,^ yes, if
Phoebus, Themis, Dodona chant forth the truth,
then when our day is over this man shall be Julius
Augustus. Moreover, there is linked with him in
bonds of affection one who is armed with the great
spirit of a royal grandfather.^ Whither canst thou

83

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

hie fatum fert, ambo animum. consurge simulque
aggredere ignaros. neutrum mactare valebis, 270
si iubeas utrumque mori ; sed necte dolosas
blanditias uni, ferro tamen iste petatur.
quid loquor incassum ? nihil est quod tanta cavemus :
ut regnet victurus erit ! '

" Commotus in iras
Aetius sic pauca refert : * compesce furentis 275

impia vota animi. mortem mandare valebo
insontis, taceam nostri ? quisquamne precatur
ut sine criminibus crimen fiat bene nasci ?
ad poenam quis fata vocet ? tua viscera ferro,
Maioriane, petam, Phoebus si nocte refulget, 280
Luna die, duplex ponto si plaustra novatur
Parrhasis, Atlantem Tanais, si Bagrada cernit
Caucason, Hercynii nemoris si stipite lintris
texta Nabataeum pro Rheno sulcat Hydaspen,
si bibit Hispanus Gangen tepidisque ab Erythris 285
ad Tartesiacum venit Indus aquator Hiberum,
si se Pollucis perfundit sanguine Castor,
Thesea Pirithoi, Pyladen si stravit Orestae
vel furibunda manus, raperet cum Taurica sacra
matricida pius. sed ne sprevisse dolorem 290

forte tuum videar, vivat careatque parumper
militia, heu ! potuit nobis, nisi triste putasses,
fortunam debere suam.'

1 The Bears.

* Eryth. : n. on 2. 447.

84

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

turn? To the world's topmost pinnacle he directs
his fate and both direct their thoughts. Arise and
assail them at the same time unawares. Neither of
them wilt thou be able to slay if thou shouldst order
that both die ; nay, rather weave crafty flatteries for
the one, and let this man be attacked with the sword.
But why do I speak vain words ? 'Tis for naught
that we seek to avert these fateful events. He will
surely live that he may reign.'

" Aetius, stirred to wrath, thus briefly answered:
* Curb the impious longings of thy frenzied spirit !
Can I order the death of a man who is innocent,
not to say our friend ? Can anyone urge that where
no crime is charged it be made a crime to be well-
born? Who can summon the fates to judgment?
I will assail thy body with the sword, Majorian, —
yes, if the sun shines by night and the moon by
day, if the two Arcadian constellations ^ have their
wains refreshed in the sea, if Tanais looks on Atlas
and Bagrada on the Caucasus, if the boat com-
pacted of timbers from the Hercynian forest cleaves
the eastern Hydaspes instead of the Rhine, if the
Spaniard drinks of the Ganges and the Indian comes
from warm Erythrae ^ to the Spanish Ebro to draw
water, if Castor steeps himself in his brother's blood,
if the hand of Pirithous laid Theseus low, or the
hand of Orestes, frenzied as it was, struck Pylades
down when the filial matricide was snatching the
holy image from the Tauric shrine. Nevertheless,
I would fain not be deemed to have slighted thy
distress; so he shall live, indeed, but he shall be
taken from his soldiering for a brief space. Alas!
But for thy gloomy thoughts he might have owed
his rise to me ! *

8s

VOL. I. T

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

" Sic fatur et ilium
rure iubet patrio suetos mutare labores,
fatorum currente rota, quo disceret, agri 295

quid possessorem maneat, quos denique mores
ius civile paret, ne solam militis artem
ferret ad imperium. suspenderat ilicet arma
emeritus iuvenis, sterilis ieiunia terrae
vomere fecundans. sic quondam consule curvo
vertebas campos, paulum si pace sequestra 301

classica laxasses, fortis cui laeva regebat
stivam post aquilas, humili dum iuncta camino
victoris fumum biberet palmata bubulci.

" Principis interea gladio lacrimabile fatum 305
clauserat Aetius ; cuius quo tutius ille
magna Palatinis coniungeret agmina turmis,
evocat hunc precibus. sed non se poena moratur
sanguinis effusi (numerum collegerat ergo,

295. agri Luetjohann : agro.

^ Aetius was slain by Valentinian Til and the eunuch cham-
berlain Heraclius on Sept. 21, A.D. 454. Petronius Maximus,
who had instigated this murder in the vain hope of suc-
ceeding Aetius as " the Patrician," soon turned upon his
imperial master and caused him to be assassinated on March
16, A.D. 455. On the following day he was proclaimed Emperor.
A month and a half later he was killed as he sought flight before
the Vandals' advance on Rome. When Geiseric departed
after plundering the capital, Avitus was proclaimed Emperor
in Gaul, and he entered Rome before the end of the year,
accompanied by our poet, his son-in-law. Scarcely a year
later he was deposed by Ricimer and Majorian, and died
shortly afterwards. After an interregnum he was succeeded,
in the year 457, by Majorian, who would perhaps have
been elevated two years before had not Petronius Maximus
stood in his way. It must have been very hard for Sidonius to
write this part of the poem. Avitus, of course, is not
mentioned.

86

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

" So spake he, and ordered the fighter to exchange
his wonted toil for his native fields ; but fate's
revolving wheel was here at work, to the end that
he might learn what is in store for the possessor of
land and likewise what conduct the civil law creates,
and so he might bring to the throne more than a
soldier's skill. Straightway he had hung up his
armour, this veteran young in years, and was making
the leanness of a barren land fruitful with the
plough. Even so in old times thou wert wont, O
Rome, to upturn thy fields by the work of a stooping
consul, when peace had intervened for a little and
thou hadst relaxed thy campaigning ; and his stout
left hand would control the plough after he had
ruled the legions, while near the lowly hearth a
peasant-conqueror's palm-decked robe drank in the
smoke.

" Meanwhile Aetius ^ had fulfilled his melancholy
fate by the sword of the emperor; who, that he
might with more safety win over the great hosts
of his victim to join the Palatine bands, called on
Majorian with prayers to come to him.^ But punish-
ment for the blood that he had shed was not long in
coming (so 'twas a mere mob he had rallied round

* After the death of Aetius, Valentinian summoned
Majorian from his retreat and made him comes domesticorum.
The palatini, like the old Praetorian Guards, were stationed in
various parts of Italy. They were under the command of
the magister utriusque militiae. The domestici, another body
of guards, usually but not always in attendance at the Court,
were commanded independently by the comes domesticorum.
Magna agmina refers particularly to the great body of armed
retainers {buccellarii) which Aetius had enlisted in his service,
and which almost certainly outnumbered the regular troops
available in Italy.

87

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

non animum populi) : ferri mala crimina ferro 310
solvit et in vestram plus concidit ille ruinam.
iam tunc imperium praesentis principis aurea
volvebant bona fata colu ; sed publica damna
invidiam fugere viri. quicumque fuerunt
nomen in Augustum lecti, tenuere relictum 315

Caesaribus solium : postquam tu capta laboras,
hie quod habet fecit. Traianum Nerva voeavit,
cum pignus iam victor erat : Germanicus esset
ut titulis, meritis fuerat. res ordine currit ;
banc ambit famam quisquis sic incipit. olim 320
post Capreas Tiberi, post turpia numina Gai,
censuram Claudi, citharam thalamosque Neronis,
post speculi immanis pompam, quo se ille videbat
hinc turpis, quod pulcher, Otho, post quina Vitelli
milia famosi ventris damnata barathro, 325

his titulis princeps lectus similique labore
Vespasianus erat.

" Sed ne fortasse latroiiis
me clausam virtute putes, consumpsit in illo
vim gentis vitae vitium ; Scythicam feritatem
non vires, sed vota tenent, spoliisque potitus 330
immensis robur luxu iam perdidit omne
quo valuit dum pauper erat. mea viscera pro se
in me nunc armat ; laceror tot capta per annos

326. lahori GPTF.

* At this point it is perhaps necessary to remind the reader
that Africa is addressing all these words to the goddess Roma.

* See Suet. Claiid. 16 for the eccentric conduct of Claudius
as censor.

3 See Juvenal II. 99.

* This was not true of Geiseric, though it may have been
true of many of his followers.

88

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

him, not the hearts of the people) ; the sword's
crime he expiated by the sword, and so he fell, O
Rome, bringing thee lower than he himself was
brought. Yet even then the kindly fates with their
golden distaff were evolving the reign of our present
chief; but the calamities of the people shrank from
bringing enmity on such a man. All who had been
chosen to bear the name of Augustus had held a
throne left for them by the Caesars ; but he, when
thou^ wert captured and in sore trouble, created that
which he now holds. Nerva called Trajan to power
when his son was already a conqueror; in official
title he was styled Germanicus, but his deeds had
made him so already. The one thing leads to the
other : whoever begins thus aims at the same glory.
In olden days after Tiberius in Capri, after Gaius'
base assumption of divinity, after the censorship of
Claudius ,2 after Nero with his lyre and his lechery,
after the parade of that horrible mirror ^ in which
Otho, foul because he was fair, was wont to behold
himself, after Vitellius' five millions of money con-
demned to the bottomless pit of his scandalous belly,
Vespasian had been chosen emperor with the same
titles won by the same toil as Trajan's and Majorian's.
" But lest haply thou think that I am securely
hemmed in by the valour of the Robber, know that
in him the vileness of his vices has sapped the vigour
of his race.* His Scythian ^ savagery is governed not
by his strength but by his desires ; spoils immense
he has won, but already by his profligacy he has
lost all that made him strong when he was poor.
Now he arms mine own flesh against me for his own
ends, and after all these years of captivity I am being

' See nn. on 219 above and on 2. 351.

89

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

ure suo, virtute mea, fecundaque poenis
quos patiar pario. propriis nil conficit armis : 335
Gaetulis, Nomadis, Garamantibus Autololisque,
Arzuge, Marmarida, Psyllo, Nasamone timetur
segnis, et ingenti ferrum iam nescit ab auro.
ipsi autem color exsanguis, quern crapula vexat
et pallens pinguedo tenet, ganeaque perenni 340
pressus acescentem stomaehus non explicat aurani.
par est vita suis ; non sic Barcaeus opimam
Hannibal ad Capuam periit, cum fortia bello
inter delicias moUirent corpora Baiae
et, se Lucrinas qua vergit Gaurus in undas, 345

bracchia Massylus iactaret nigra natator.
atque ideo hunc dominum saltern post saecula tanta
ultorem mihi redde, precor, ne dimicet ultra
Carthago Italiam contra."

Sic fata dolore
ingemuit lacrimisque preces adiuvit obortis. 350

his haec Roma refert : " longas succinge querellas,
o devota mihi : vindex tibi nomine divum
Maiorianus erit. sed paucis pauca retexam.
ex quo Theudosius communia iura fugato
reddidit auctoris fratri, cui guttura f regit 355

^ This is related by Livy, XXIII. 18. 11-16, and is a favourite
topic with later writers.

2 In this answer of the goddess Roma the poet takes the
opportunity of indicating the hardships suffered by Gaul
during the past 75 years, with the object of enlisting Majorian's
sympathy and of excusing the recent rebellion

90

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

cruelly torn under his authority by the prowess of
mine own ; fertile in afflictions I bring forth sons to
bring me suffering. Naught doth he perform with
his own arms ; Gaetulians, Numidians, Garaman-
tians, Autoloh, Arzuges, Marmaridae, Psylli, Nasa-
mones — it is these that make him feared, but he is
sunk in indolence and, thanks to untold gold, no
longer knows aught of steel. His cheeks are blood-
less ; a drunkard's heaviness afflicts him, pallid
flabbiness possesses him, and his stomach, loaded
\vith continual gluttony, cannot rid itself of the sour
wind. His followers live like him : Hannibal of
Barca's race was not so utterly undone in affluent
Capua's land,^ when Baiae enfeebled amid all its
allurements bodies that were strong for war, and
the Massylian took to swimming and flourished his
swarthy arms about where Gaurus stoops down to
the Lucrine waters. So do thou, I pray thee, give
me but this one lord after these many ages to be
my avenger, that so Carthage may cease to war
against Italy."

So speaking, she groaned in her distress, and the
starting tears gave support to her prayers. Rome
answered ^ : " Curb thy long plaint, my faithful one ;
Majorian shall be thine avenger commissioned by
heaven. 3 But a few things in few words I will
recall. Ever since Theodosius restored a joint
authority to his patron's exiled brother, whose neck
was broken by a hand destined to be turned against

' Mr. Stevens (p. 46, n. 5) inadvertently accuses the poet
of inconsistency here : " In v. 352 Rome tells Africa who her
saviour is to be, but in v. 104 Africa is represented as already
knowing his name." But in the earlier passage Africa says
"Majorian is the deliverer I want," and here Rome says
"Majorian you shall have"; there is no inconsistency,

91

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

post in se vertenda manus, mea Gallia rerum
ignoratur adhuc dominis ignaraque servit.
ex illo multum periit, quia principe clauso,
quisquis erat, miseri diversis partibus orbis
vastari sollemne fuit. quae vita placeret, 360

cum rector moderandus erat ? contempta tot annos
nobilitas iacuit : pretium respublica forti
rettulit invidiam, princeps haec omnia noster
corrigit atque tuum vires ex gentibus addens 364
ad bellum per bella venit ; nam maximus isse est,
non pugnasse labor, terimus cur tempora verbis ?
pervenit et vincit." tali sermone peractum
concilium, verbisque deae famulante metallo
aurea Concordes traxerunt fila sorores.

Hos me quos cecini Romae Libyaeque labores 370
vota hominum docuere loqui ; iam tempus ad ilia
ferre pedem quae fanda mihi vel Apolline muto :
pro Musis Mars vester erit. conscenderat Alpes
Raetorumque iugo per longa silentia ductus
Romano exierat populato trux Alamannus 375

^ Gratian, who had raised Theodosius to Imperial power
(hence auctor), was assassinated by his soldiers when the
pretender Magnus Clemens Maximus invaded Gaul (a.d. 383).
Maximus invaded Italy in 387 in order to attack Valentinian II
(half-brother of Gratian), who fled to the East. Maximus was
beheaded in the following year, whereupon Theodosius not
only restored Valentinian to his former sway but gave him
in addition the share of the Empire which Gratian had held.
The death of Valentinian (a.d. 392) seems to have been brought
about by Arbogastes, though the story of the stranghng is
doubtful. Arbogastes kUled himself after the battle of the
Frigidus (Sept. 6, 394).

2 principe clauso, referring to Honorius and Valentinian III
in Ravenna. These emperors were helpless, or worse, without
the control of stronger hands (StiHcho, Constantius, Placidia,
Aetius) : hence rector moderandus erat (v. 361).

92

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

itself,^ my land of Gaul hath even till now been
ignored by the lords of the world, and hath languished
in slavery unheeded. Since that time much hath
been destroyed, for with the emperor, whoe'er he
might be, closely confined,^ it has been the constant
lot of the distant parts of a wTetched world to be
laid waste. What manner of life could satisfy when
the ruler required a controlling hand ? For many a
year the nobility have lain prostrate and despised,
and enmity has been the state's reward for the
valiant. Now our prince is amending all this,^ and
he advances to your wars by way of other wars,
adding fresh forces from divers peoples ^ ; for 'tis the
going, not the fighting, that is hardest. But why
do we waste time in words ? He comes, he con-
quers." With such speech the assembly was ended,
and the fateful sisters harmoniously spun golden
threads, whose metal humbly obeyed the words of
the goddess.

These afflictions of Rome and Africa that I have
sung the yearnings of mankind did teach me to
proclaim ; now it is time to advance to deeds which
must needs be told, even were Apollo dumb. Thy
Mars shall take the Muses' place. The savage
Alaman had scaled the Alps, and, led down by way
of the Rhaetian ridge over its long silences, had
emerged, plundering the Roman land ; he had sent

• This is perhaps as much a priiyer as a statement of fact.

* Allusion to the Emperor's design of securing the loyalty
and co-operation of the various foreign peoples in Gaul and
Spain as a preliminary to the expedition against Geiseric.
He had made a beginning with the conquered Burgundians,
and the submission of the Visigoths came in the following
year. See also n. on w. 470-549.

93

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

perque Cani quondam dictos de nomine campos
in praedam centum noviens dimiserat hostes.
iamque magister eras : Burconem dirigis illo
exigua comitante manu, sed sufRcit istud
cum pugnare iubes ; certa est victoria nostris 380
te mandasse acies ; peragit fortuna triumphum
non populo, sed amore tuo ; nolo agmina campo
quo mittis paucos. felix te respicit iste
eventus belli ; certatum est iure magistri,
Augusti fato. nuper ferus hostis aperto 385

errabat lentus pelago, postquam ordine vobis
ordo omnis regnum dederat, plebs, curia, miles,
et collega simul. Campanam flantibus Austris
ingrediens terram securum milite Mauro
agricolam aggreditur ; pinguis per transtra sedebat
Vandalus opperiens praedam, quam iusserat illuc 391
captivo capiente trahi. sed vestra repente
inter utrumque host em dederant sese agmina planis
quae pelagus collemque secant portumque reducto
efficiunt flexu fluvii. perterrita primum 395

385. ferus hostis ego. (Class. Qiuxrt. loc. cit.p. 19); cf. 7. 285:
post hostis codd.

386. postquam : simul C.

^ Campi Canini, a north-Italian region, near Bilitio
(Bellinzona), in the upper part of the Ticinus valley.

* Majorian became magister militum on Feb. 27, 457.

3 I have discussed the following passage in Class. Quart.
XXVIII (1934), pp. 18 sqq.

* See n. 5, p. 7 and n. on w. 9-12 of this poem. It
seems clear that the reference here is to the formal accession
on December 28, 457. The fight with the Vandals must have
taken place in the following year, probably not many months

94

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

nine hundred foemen to scour for booty the plains
named long ago after Canius.^ By this time thou
wert Master of the Forces ^ ; and thou didst send
thither Burco \\Tith a band of followers, small indeed,
but that suffices when thou bidst them fight ; 'tis
certain victory for our troops when they go under
thine orders ; Fortune brings about a triumph not
through their numbers but through their love for
thee. I crave no armies in a field to which thou
sendest but a few men ! ^ The happy issue of that
campaign is due to thee, for thou didst fight with yr^^^
the authority of a Master, but with the destiny of ; y^ k
an Emperor. \ Lately, when the throne had been /'vJ
bestowed on thee in due order by all orders— ^ ^--
commons, senate, army, and thy colleague too *— r" ]/^
a savage foe was roaming at his ease over the un-
guarded sea. Under southerly breezes he invaded
the Campanian soil and with his Moorish soldiery
attacked the husbandmen when they dreamed not
of danger; the fleshy Vandal sat on the thwarts
waiting for the spoil, which he had bidden his cap-
tives ^ to capture and bring thither. But of a sudden
thy bands had thrown themselves between the two
enemy hosts into the plains which sunder the sea
from the hills and fashion a harbour where the
river makes a backward curve. First the multitude

before the Panegyric was delivered (see also v. 489 n.). The
fight with the Alamanni related in the previous lines must have
happened before December 28, 457, but not necessarily before
April 1, as there is good ground for believing that Majorian
remained technically a Magister Militum until his formal
accession in December. The two latest editors have caused
great confusion by punctuating after instead of before nujper
in V. 385.

' The Moors {y. 389), who had been subjugated by Geiseric.

95

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

montes turba petit, trabibus quae clausa relictis

praedae praeda fuit ; turn concitus agmine toto

in pugnam pirata coit : pars lintre cavata

iam dociles exponit equos, pars ferrea texta

concolor induitur, teretes pars explicat arcus 400

spiculaque infusum ferro latura venenuni,

quae feriant bis missa semel. iam textilis anguis

discurrit per utramque aciem, cui guttur adactis

turgescit zephyris ; patulo mentitur hiatu

iratam pictura famem, pannoque furor em 405

aura facit quotiens crassatur vertile tergum

flatibus et nimium iam non capit alvus inane.

at tuba terrisono strepuit grave rauca fragore,

responsat clamor lituis, virt usque repente

ignavis vel parva furit. cadit undique ferrum, 410

hinc tamen in iugulos : hunc torta falarica iactu

proterit, ad mortem vix cessatura secundam ;

hunc conti rotat ictus ; equo ruit aclyde fossus

ille veruque alius ; iacet hie simul alite telo,

absentem passus dextram ; pars poplite secto 415

mortis ad invidiam vivit, partemque cerebri

hie galeae cum parte rapit, fortique lacerto

412. ^Toterit Luetjohann : pr(a)eterit.

^ See n. on 2. 232. These standards in the form of dragons
or serpents were made of cloth or of flexible skins, hollow inside,
and with a silver mouth. When the wind blew in at the mouth
they contorted themselves in a manner which suggested real
serpents. The last line of the description is hard. I have
followed an ingenious suggestion of Dr. Sample that inane
means " air "; the use is much bolder than in an expression
like vastum per inane {v. 246), but probably pleased Sidonius,
as it enabled him to introduce one of his innumerable para-
doxes (" cannot hold the emptiness"). Literally the words

96

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

of plunderers flees in terror towards the mountains,
and so, cut off from the ships they had left, they
become the prey of their prey ; then the pirates
are aroused and mass their whole forces for the
battle. Some land their well-trained steeds in
hollow skiffs, some don the meshed mail of like hue
to themselves, some get ready their shapely bows
and the arrows made to carry poison on the iron
point and to wound doubly with a single shot.
Now the broidered dragon ^ speeds hither and thither
in both armies, his throat swelling as the zephyrs
dash against it ; that pictured form with wide-open
jaw counterfeits a wTathful hunger, and the breeze
puts a frenzy into the cloth as often as the lithe
back is thickened by the blasts and the air is now too
abundant for the belly to hold. Now the trumpet's
deep note sounds with terrific blast; a responsive
shout greets the clarions, and even the puny spirit
of cowards suddenly bursts into frenzy. From
everywhere a shower of steel comes down, but
from our side it comes down on the throats of the
foe; a hurtling javelin lays one man in the dust,
scarce to exhaust its force with a second victim;
another man is sent spinning by the thrust of a pike ;
one gashed by a harpoon, another by a lance, falls
headlong from his horse ; yet another, flung down by
a flying shaft, lies there, the prey of a hand beyond
his ken ; some of them, with the thigh-sinews severed,
live on to envy death ; again, a warrior sweeps off
part of a foeman's brain and part of his helmet
together, cleaving the hapless skull with two-edged

mean " and the belly no longer has room for the excessive
air," i.e. more air than the dragon's belly can hold blows in at
the mouth.

97

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

disicit ancipiti miserabile sinciput ense.

ut primum versis dat tergum Vandalus armis,

succedit caedes pugnae : discrimine nullo 420

sternuntur passim campis, et fortia quaeque

fecit iners. trepidante fuga mare pallidus intrat

et naves pertransit eques, turpique natatu

de pelago ad cymbam rediit. sic tertia Pyrrhi

quondam pugna fuit : caesis cum milibus ilium 425

Dentatus premeret, lacerae vix fragmina classis

traxit in Epirum qui Chaonas atque Molossos,

qui Thracum Macetumque manus per litora vestra

sparserat et cuius vires Oenotria pallens

ipsaque, quae petiit, trepidaverat uncta Tarentus. 430

hostibus expulsis campum, qui maximus exstat,

iam lustrare vacat ; videas hie strage sub ilia

utrorumque animos : nullus non pectore caesus,

quisquis vester erat ; nullus non terga foratus,

illorum quisquis. clamant hoc vulnera primi 435

praedonum turn forte ducis, cui regis avari

narratur nupsisse soror, qui pulvere caeco

clausus et elisus pilis vestigia turpis

gestat adhuc probrosa fugae. sic agmina vestra

cum spoliis campum retinent et Marte fruuntur. 440

Interea duplici texis dum litore classem
inferno superoque mari, cadit omnis in aequor
silva tibi nimiumque diu per utrumque recisus,
Appennine, latus, navali qui arbor e dives
non minus in pelagus nemorum quam mittis aquarum.

444. navali qui Mohr : navalique.

^ The blackamoor turns pale again in v. 602.

2 i.e. it is no longer a flat plain but a hill of corpses.

^ The Adriatic and the Tuscan Sea.

98

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

sword wielded by a strong arm. Soon as the Vandal
began to turn and flee, carnage took the place of
battle ; all were laid low promiscuously throughout
the plain, and even the coward did the most doughty
deeds. In their panic flight the horsemen plunged
pallid ^ into the water and passed beyond the ships,
then swam back in disgrace to their boats from the
open sea. Like to this in olden days was the third
fight of Pyrrhus : when Dentatus had slain thousands
and pressed him sore, he scarce dragged some frag-
ments of his shattered fleet to Epirus — he who had
spread over thy shores bands of Chaonians and
Molossians, Thracians and Macedonians, he at whose
might Oenotria grew pale and luxurious Tarentum,
that invited him, was herself dismayed. With the
foe driven out there was freedom to survey the
plain, which now stood up high.^ Here in that
slaughtered pile could be discerned the spirit of each
host : no man of thine but had been stricken in the
breast, none of the foe who was not stabbed in the
back. This truth is loudly proclaimed by the
wounds of him who chanced on that day to be com-
mander of the robbers, a man whom it is said the
daughter of the greedy king had wedded ; enveloped
by the blindly flying dust and crushed under a mass
of pikes he still carried the infamous marks of a
shameful flight. Thus thy battalions hold the field
with all its spoils and reap the reward of their prowess.
Meanwhile thou buildest on the two shores fleets for
the Upper and the Lower Sea.^ Down into the water
falls every forest of the Apennines ; for many a long
day there is hewing on both slopes of those mountains
so rich in ships' timber, mountains that send down
to the sea as great an abundance of wood as of

99

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Gallia continuis quamquam sit lassa tributis, 446

hoc censu placuisse cupit nee pondera sentit

quae prodesse probat. non tantis maior Atrides

Carpathium texit ratibus cum Doricus hostis

Sigeas rapturus opes Rhoeteia clausit 450

Pergama ; nee tantae Seston iuncturus Abydo

Xerxes classis erat tumidas cum sterneret undas

et pontum sub ponte daret, cum stagna superbo

irrupit temerata gradu turmaeque frequentes

Hellespontiaco persultavere profundo ; 455

nee sic Leucadio classis Mareotica portu

Actiacas abscondit aquas, in bella mariti

dum venit a Phario dotalis turba Canopo,

cum patrio Cleopatra ferox circumdata sistro

milite vel piceo fulvas onerata carinas 460

Dorida difFusam premeret Ptolomaide gaza.

hoc tu non cultu pugnas, sed more priorum

dite magis ferro, merito cui subiacet aurima

divitis ignavi. tales ne sperne rebelles :

etsi non acies, decorant tamen ista triumphos. 465

nee me Lageam stirpem memorasse pigebit

hostis ad exemplum vestri ; namque auguror hisdem

regnis fortunam similem, cum luxus in ilia

parte sit aequalis nee peior Caesar in ista.

Ilicet aggrederis quod nullus tempore nostro 470

467. isdem CTP.

^ A timely hint to Majorian !

' pontum sub po7Ue : cf. 23. 44.

' These lines describe the muster of Majorian's forces and
the march over the Alps into Gaul. Modern historians
{e.g. Hodgkin and Bury) absurdly imagine that the reference is
to an expedition into Pannonia. The list of peoples in vv.
474-477 is a lurid commentary on Rome's dependence upon
foreign contingents to do her fighting, although Sidonius in-
geniously turns a lamentable fact into a compliment to
Majorian. The poet makes it abundantly clear that Majorian

lOO

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

waters. Gaul , though wearied by unceasing tribute,^
is now eager to gain approval by a new levy for this
end, and feels not a burden wherein she beholds a
benefit. The elder son of Atreus did not cover the
Carpathian Sea with so many ships when the Dorian
foe, bent on seizing the wealth of Sigeum, beleaguered
Rhoeteian Pergamum ; not so vast was the fleet
that Xerxes had when he sought to link Sestos with
Abydos and paved the swelling waters, setting a
bridge over the breakers ,2 and with haughty step
burst in upon the outraged flood, and his multi-
tudinous squadrons pranced over the Hellespontine
deep. Not so fully did the Mareotic fleet in Leucas'
harbour hide the waters of Actium, when a multitude
that was a woman's dower came from Egyptian
Canopus to fight her husband's battles, and proud
Cleopatra, with her country's sistrum girded upon
her and her yellow boats loaded with pitch-black
warriors, weighted the wide sea with the treasure
of the Ptolemies. Thou dost not fight in this array,
but rather as our forerunners did, with wealth of
steel, w^hereto the wealthy coward's gold submits.
Yet scorn not such troublers of the peace, for these
splendours, though they grace not the ranks of battle,
grace the pageantry of a triumph. And truly I shall
never grieve to have mentioned the house of Lagos
as prototype of thy foe ; for I forecast a like fate
for these two kingdoms, since on their side the
luxuriousness is equal, and on our side is a Caesar
as good as there was then.

2 Straightway thou dost attempt what no emperor

began early in his reign to organise an army and a navy for
an attack on Geiseric in Africa. The muster here described
has that ultimate end in view, though the troubles in Gaul
had first to be settled. See also n. on 364 sq.

101

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Augustus potuit : rigidum septemplicis Histri
agmen in arma rapis. nam quidquid languidus axis
cardine Sithonio sub Parrhase parturit Vrsa,
hoc totum tua signa pavet ; Bastarna, Suebus,
Pannonius, Neurus, Chunus, Geta, Dacus, Halanus,
Bellonotus, Rugus, Burgundio, Vesus, Alites, 476
Bisalta, Ostrogothus, Procrustes, Sarmata, Moschus
post aquilas venere tuas ; tibi militat omnis
Caucasus et Scythicae potor Tanaiticus undae.
quid faciat fortuna viri ? quascumque minatur, 480
has tremuit iam Roma manus ; modo principe sub te
ne metuat prope parva putat, nisi serviat illi
quod timuit regnante alio.

Iam castra movebas
et te diversis stipabant milia signis ;
obsequium gens una negat, quae nuper ab Histro 485
rettulit indomitum solito truculentior agmen
quod dominis per bella caret, populoque superbo
Tuldila plectendas in proelia suggerit iras.
hie tu vix armis positis iterum arma retractas :
Bistonides veluti Ciconum cum forte pruinas 490

Ogygiis complent thiasis, seu Strymonos arvis
seu se per Rhodopen seu qua nimbosus in aequor
volvit Hyperboreis in cautibus Hismarus Hebrum
dat somno vaga turba, simul lassata quiescunt

^ The reference is almost certainly to the Huns. Tuldila is
not mentioned elsewhere.

2 i.e. soon after the battle described in w. 385-440. The
mutiny obviously occurred in Italy, before the passage of the
Alps. Presumably it affected only a part of the Hun
contingent.

2 " Thracian . . . Theban," a silly paradox; " Theban "
here means little more than "' Bacchanalian."

102

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

in our time has availed to do : thou dost carry off to
war the frozen army of the seven-mouthed Danube.
All the multitude that the sluggish quarter of the
earth doth produce in the Sithonian region beneath
the Arcadian bear fears thy standards ; Bastarnian,
Suebian, Pannonian, Neuran, Hun, Getan, Dacian,
Alan, Bellonotan, Rugian, Burgundian, Visigoth,
Alites, Bisalta, Ostrogoth, Procrustian, Sarmatian,
Moschan have ranged themselves behind thine
eagles ; in thy service are the whole Caucasus and
the drinker of the Don's Scythian waters. What
shall such a hero's fortune accomplish ? Every band
wherewith he now threatens others has at some
time caused Rome to tremble ; but now under thy
sovereignty she counts it almost a small thing to
be free from fear, unless she also sees humbly at
her service that which she feared when another
reigned.

Now thou wert moving thy camp, and around
thee thronged thousands under divers standards.
Only one race ^ denied thee obedience, a race
who had lately, in a mood even more savage than
their wont, withdrawn their untamed host from
the Danube because they had lost their lords in
warfare, and Tuldila stirred in that unruly multi-
tude a mad lust of fighting for which they must
needs pay dear. Hereupon, having scarce laid
down thine arms ,2 thou takest them up again ; as
when the Thracian women fill the fi'osty land of the
Ciconians with Theban^ troops of revellers, and on
the fields by the Strymon or over the slopes of
Rhodope, or where cloudy Hismarus rolls Hebrus
down amid the Hyperborean rocks to the sea, the
roaming band give themselves up to sleep, and

103

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

orgia et ad biforem reboat nee tibia flatum ; 495

vix requies, iam f ponte ligant f rotat enthea

thyrsum
Bassaris et maculis Erythraeae nebridos horrens
excitat Odrysios ad marcida tympana mystas.
tu tamen banc differs poenam, sed sanguinis auctor
maioris, dum parcis, eras, non pertulit ultra 500
hoc pro te plus cauta manus vestrumque pudorem
sprevit pro vobis ; primi cadit hostia belli
quisque rebellis erat. praedam quoque dividis illis,
mens devota quibus fuerat : quae territa servit
exemplo, gaudet pretio. Pharsalica Caesar 505

arva petens subitas ferro compescuit iras ;
sed sua membra secans, ut causae mole coactus,
flevit quos perimit ; vestris haec proficit armis
seditio : quodcumque iubes, nisi barbarus audit,
hie cadit, ut miles timeat. 510

lam tempore brumae
Alpes marmoreas atque occurrentia iuncto
saxa polo rupesque vitri siccamque minantes
per scopulos pluviam primus pede carpis et idem
lubrica praemisso firmas vestigia conto.
coeperat ad rupis medium quae maxima turba est
interno squalere gelu, quod colle supino 516

artatis conclusa viis reptare rigenti
non pot erat revoluta solo : fors unus ab illo

496. sponte T : iam sponte vigens R. 31. Henry.
bOl. ut ego {Class. Qvnrt. loc. cit. p. 19) : et.

^ See n. on 2, 447. Things connected with Bacchus are,
like the god himself, often associated with India.

2 The famous mutiny of the Ninth Legion at Placentia,
49 B.C.

' i.e. ice. See n. on 2. 271.

104

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

straightway the rout falls into wearied repose, and
no longer does the breath awake a resounding note
in the double pipe ; but scarce has rest begun,
when ... an inspired Bassarid once more whirls
the thyrsus, and, bristling in her dappled garb of
Erythraean ^ fawn-skin, rouses the Odrysian votaries
to beat the languid tabors. Yet thou didst put off
the punishment of this offence ; but in sparing thou
didst cause greater bloodshed; for a band of thy
men, more careful of thy weal, could bear this crime
no longer, and for thy sake spurned thy mildness,
and the rebels fell one and all, victims offered at the
war's beginning. Thou didst divide the spoil among
those whose hearts had been true ; and these hearts,
that trembled when they aided in the punishment,
were cheered by their reward. Caesar, bound for the
field of Pharsalia, stayed a mutinous outburst with the
sword 2 ; yet as he thus cut off his own limbs, driven
thereto by the compelling need of his cause, he wept
for those he destroyed. But this rising was a benefit
to thine arms ; henceforth whatever thine orders
might be, if a barbarian hearkened not he fell, that
the soldiers might fear.

And now in winter thou didst thyself lead the
way over the marble slopes of the Alps, over crags
that rise to meet the sky, over rocks like glass and
dry rain ^ resting amid threatening scaurs ; and
with a lance thrust out before thee thou didst steady
thy slipping feet. Half-way up the mountain the
main part of thy force felt a chilling frost encrusting
their very hearts, for confined in narrow paths on a
hill-slope they could not clamber up the frozen face,
but ever rolled back; then it came to pass that
one of the column, a man whose wheels had in

105

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

agmine, canentem cuius rota triverat Histrum,
exclamat : ** gladios malo et soUemne quieta 520

quod frigus de morte venit ; mea torpor inerti
membra rigore ligat, quodam mihi corpus adustum
frigoris igne perit. sequimur sine fine labori
instantem iuvenem ; quisquis fortissimus ille est
aut rex aut populus, castris modo clausus aprica 525
vel sub pelle iacet ; nos anni vertimus usum.
quod iubet hie lex rebus erit ; non flectitur umquam
a coeptis damnumque putat si temporis iras
vel per damna timet, qua dicam gente creatum
quern Scytha non patior ? cuius lac tigridis infans
Hyrcana sub rupe bibit ? quae sustulit istum 531
axe meo gravior tellus ? en vertice summo
algentes cogit turmas ac frigora ridet,
dum solus plus mente calet. cum classica regis
Arctoi sequerer, Romani principis arma 535

Caesareumque larem luxu torpere perenni
audieram : dominos nil prodest isse priores
si rex hie quoque fortis erat." maiora parantem
dicere de scopulo verbis accendis amaris :
" quisquis es, oppositi metuis qui lubrica clivi, 540
frange cutem pendentis aquae scalptoque fluento
sit tibi lympha gradus. turpes depone querelas ;
otia frigus habent. numquid mihi membra biformis
Hylaei natura dedit ? num Pegasus alis

537. isse] desse M.

1 Cf. 2. 270.

^ The word-play is made possible by the fact that damnum
may mean " fault," " vice," as well as " loss."

lo6

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

their time scoured the whitened Danube,^ ex-
claimed: " I would rather have a sword-thrust and
that common coldness that comes from a quiet
death : numbness ties my limbs ^vith cramping stiff-
ness, and my body is seared and consumed by the
burning cold. We follow a young general that per-
sists in toil without ceasing ; but even the bravest,
whether king or people, is now enclosed in camp
or fort or lies down under tents of skin in sunny
places, while we pervert the uses of the year.
What he orders will be a law to all creation. He is
never turned from his enterprises, and he thinks his
character is lost if even his losses make him fear the
violence of the season. ^ Of what race must I pro-
nounce him born, >vith whom I, a Scythian, cannot
cope? What tigress gave suck to him in infancy
under some Hyrcanian height ? What land more
severe than mine own clime reared him? Lo! on
the very summit he musters his chilled squadroas,
and laughs at the cold, for he alone has in his soul a
warmth that is stronger. When I followed the
standards of a northern king I heard that the em-
peror's arms and the house of the Caesars were
sunk in unending luxury. It is no gain to me that
my former lords are gone if, after all, there is here
too a valiant king." He was ready to utter more
violent words when thou, speaking from the crest,
didst stir him with bitter taunts : " Whosoe'er thou
art that fearest the slippery rise that confronts thee,
break the skin of the hanging water, then dig into
the flow and make the pool thy stepping-stone. Have
done with thy base complaints ; idleness is the cause
of cold. Did nature give me the limbs of double-
bodied Hylaeus ? Did Pegasus help me with wings

107

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

adiuvit, quidquid gradior, pennasque volanti 545

dat Calais Zetusque mihi, quern ninguida cernis
calcantem iam dorsa iugi ? vos frigora frangunt,
vos Alpes ? iam iam studeam pensare pruinas ;
aestatem sub Syrte dabo." sic agmina voce
erigis exemploque levas primusque labores 550

aggrederis, quoscumque iubes ; turn cetera paret
turba libens, servit propriis cum legibus auctor.

Qui tibi praeterea comites quantusque magister
militiae, vestrum post vos qui compulit agmen,
sed non invitum ! dignus cui cederet uni 555

Sulla acie, genio Fabius, pietate Metellus,
Appius eloquio, vi Fulvius, arte Camillus.
si praefecturae quantus moderetur honorem
vir quaeras, tendit patulos qua Gallia fines,
vix habuit mores similes cui teste senatu 560

in se etiam tractum commiserat Vlpius ensem.
qui dictat modo iura Getis, sub iudice vestro

^ i.e. in Africa, fighting against the Vandals.

* This " Master of the Forces " cannot be the Patrician
Ricimer. He may be either Nepotianus (father of the future
emperor Julius Nepos), who seems to have obtained the rank
of second magister under Avitus, or (less probably) Aegidius,
who was mug. militum. per Gallias from 458 to 463 (according
to the usual account : Stein, p. 560, thinks otherwise). The
holder of this district-command had for some years been
dignified with the title magister utriusque militiae ; the original
title was mag. equitum per Gallias. See also n. on 7. 359 sqq.

2 Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius (consul, 80 B.C.) received his
extra surname owing to the strenuous efforts which he made
to secure the recall of his father, Metellus Numidicus, from
exile.

io8

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

over the ground I tread ? Do I fly with plumage
bestowed by Calais and Zethus — I, whom thou seest
already trampling the snow-clad brow of this ridge ?
Art thou overcome by the cold, by the Alps ? Then
'tis time I sought to compensate thee for the frosts ;
I will give thee a summer near the S)n'tes." ^ Thus
dost thou brace thy troops with thy words and
cheer them by thine example, ever the first to essay
whatever tasks thou dost order; and the others
willingly obey when the lawgiver makes himself
the servant of his own laws.

And what a staff thou hadst, and what a Master
of the Forces ! ^ He it was who pushed on the line
of men behind thee — ^right willing men, 'tis true.
To him, of all men, Sulla might well have given
precedence in fighting, Fabius in talent, Metellus ^
in filial loyalty, Appius in eloquence, Fulvius * in
energy, Camillus in skill. And if it should be asked
how great is the man who wields the Prefect's ^
office where Gaul extends her wide lands — he is a
man scarce equalled in goodness by him to whom,
with the senate as witness, Trajan entrusted a
drawn sword to be used even against himself.^
Under thy judge he who now gives laws to the
Goths — ^he, our skin-clad foe — doth respect the

* Q. Fulvius Flaccus (consul in 237, 224, 212, and 209 B.C.),
a great general. Along with Ap. Claudius Pulcher he took
Capua in 212 B.C.

^ The new Praetorian Prefect of Gaul was Magnus. See n.
on 23. 455.

• It is related that Trajan, on handing to a praetorian
prefect the sword which was the badge of his office, said,
" Take this, to be used in my defence if I act well, against me
if I act ill." (Aur. Vict. Goes. 13, Cass. Dio LXVIII. 16. 1 ; cf.
Plin. Pan. 67.)

109

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

pellitus ravum praeconem suspicit hostis.

quid loquar hie ilium qui scrinia sacra gubernat,

qui, cum civilis dispenset partis habenas, 565

sustinet armati cur as, interpret e sub quo

flectitur ad vestras gens efFera condiciones ?

quid laudare Petrum parvis, temeraria Clio,

viribus aggrederis ? cuius dignatur ab ore

Caesar in orbe loqui, licet et quaestore diserto 570

polleat ; attamen hie nuper, placidissime princeps,

obside percepto nostrae de moenibus urbis ,) .

visceribus miseris insertum depulit ensem. ' /''

et quia lassatis nimium spes unica rebus

venisti, nostris, petimus, succurre ruinis 575

Lugdunumque tuam, dum praeteris, aspice victor :

otia post nimios poscit te fracta labores.

cui pacem das, redde animum : lassata iuvenci

cervix deposito melius post sulcat aratro

telluris glaebam solidae. bove, fruge, colono, 580

civibus exhausta est. stantis fortuna latebat ;

dum capitur, vae quanta fuit ! post gaudia, princeps,

563. suscipit ZCi'P.

^ The reference is obviously to Theodoric II, but it is mere
hyperbole or sanguine prophecy. The Gallic rising had roused
the Visigoths to war, and it was not tiU the following year,
when Aegidius drove them back from the walls of Aries, that
they submitted and made a treaty with Majorian. ludice
refers to the praetorian prefect, as head of the judicature.
There may have been a truce with Theodoric at the time when
the Panegyric was deHvered. It is also possible that there were
some Visigoths in the conquered garrison of Lugdunum. The
variant reading suscijpit in v. 563 might possibly mean " is

1 10

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

hoarse-voiced usher of the court. ^ Why tell here of
him who controls the Sacred Bureau,^ who, while
he guides the reins of a civil office, supports also the
cares of a man-at-arms ; with whom as spokesman a
wild race is won over to your terms ? ^ But why,
my rash Muse, dost thou essay with thy puny
strength to praise Petrus ? Through his lips Caesar
deigns to speak all over the world, although he hath
also a tower of strength in his eloquent quaestor ; *
nay, this man lately, O most gracious Emperor, took
hostages and thrust off from the walls of our city
the sword that had been driven into our hapless flesh.
And since thou hast come hither as the only hope
for our exhausted fortunes, we pray and beseech thee,
save our ruins, and, as thou passest on, let thine
eye survey thy Lugdunum in thine hour of victory ;
broken, she asks thee for rest after toils too great
to bear. Give fresh heart to her to whom thou
givest peace. When the steer's neck is wearied he
will afterwards furrow the solid clods all the better
if the plough is laid aside for a time. The town is
drained of her oxen, her provender, her farmers,
her citizens. In her days of strength her fortune
was unnoticed, but in the hour of her capture, alas,
how great it was ! When joy has come, my

adopting," i.e. he is copying the Roman legal procedure in his
own domain; but suspicit is almost certainly right.

2 As Imperial secretary (magister epistularum) Petrus (on
whom see 3. 6 n.) controlled one of the three great bureaux of
the civil service.

^ The Burgundians, who had been received into Lugdunum
by the Gallo-Roman insurgents.

* The quaestor was probably Domnulus, who is mentioned
as a poet in 14 §2; cf. Epist. IX. 13. 4, IX. 15. 1 carm. 38.
Lpist. TV. 25 is addressed to him. On the quaestor sacri Palatii
as mouthpiece of the Emperor see n. on 1 . 25.

Ill

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

delectat meminisse mali. populatibus, igni

etsi concidimus, veniens tamen omnia tecum / ,;^i/

restituis : fuimus vestri quia causa triumphi, L/ 585

ipsa ruina placet, cum victor scanSere currum

incipies crinemque sacrum tibi more priorum

nectet muralis, vallaris, civica laurus

et regum aspicient Capitolia fulva catenas,

cum vesties Romam spoliis, cum divite cera 590

pinges Cinyphii captiva mapalia Bocchi,

ipse per obstantes populos raucosque fragores

praecedam et tenui, sicut nunc, carmine dicam

te geminas Alpes, Syrtes te, te mare magnum,

te freta, te Libycas pariter domuisse catervas, 595

ante tamen vicisse mihi. quod lumina flectis

quodque serenato miseros iam respicis ore,

exsultare libet : memini, cum parcere velles,

hie tibi vultus erat ; mitis dat signa venustas.

annue : sic vestris respiret Byrsa tropaeis, 600

sic Parthus certum fugiat Maurusque timore

albus eat ; sic Susa tremant positisque pharetris

exarmata tuum circumstent Bactra tribunal.

^ Pictures or models of conquered places were often exhibited
in Roman triumphal processions. Bocchus is used as a typical
name of a north-African king.

112

V. PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS

Emperor, 'tis pleasant to remember the evil days.
Prostrated though we are by devastation and by
fire, thou by thy coming dost restore all things ;
and since we were the cause of thy triumph, our
very fall is pleasing. When thou shalt step into the
victor's chariot and after the manner of our fore-
fathers the mural, castrensian and civic crowns shall
entwine thy sacred hair, and the golden Capitol
shall behold kings in chains ; when thou shalt clothe
Rome with spoils and shalt depict in costly wax the
captured huts of some African Bocchus,^ then I
myself will walk before thee amid the obstructing
throngs and the clamour of hoarse shouts, and in
my puny strain, as now, I will tell how thou hast
subdued two Alpine ranges ,2 the Syrtes, the Great
Sea, the narrower waters, and the Libyan hordes;
but first I will tell how thou didst conquer for my
benefit. I am fain to leap for joy that thou dost
turn thine eyes and already regardest the unfortunate
with brightened countenance. I remember well,
when thou wert minded to be merciful, such was
ever thy- look; a benign graciousness gives the
sign. Grant my prayer : so may Byrsa ^ draw breath
again through thy victories ; so may the Parthian
flee in good earnest and the Moor go his way white
with fear ; so may Susa tremble and the Bactrians
lay aside their quivers and stand disarmed around
thy tribunal !

* The Alps and the Pyrenees. Majorian was going to
proceed to Spain.
3 2. :r)i n.

"3

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

VI

PRAEFATIO PANEGYRICI DICTI AVITO
AVGVSTO

Pallados armisonae festum diim cantibus ortum

personal Hismario Thracia vate chelys,
et dum Mopsopium stipantur per Marathonem

qui steterant fluvii quaeque cucurrit humus,
dulcisonum quatitur fidibus dum pectine murmur, 5

has perhibent laudes laude probasse deam :
" diva, Gigantei fudit quam tempore beUi

armatus partus vertice dividuo,
quam neque DeUacis peperit Latona sub antris,

fixura errantem Cyclada pignoribus, 10

nee quae Cadmeis pariens Alciden in oris

suspendit tripHci nocte puerperium,
nee cuius pluvio turris madefacta metallo est,

cum matrem impleret filius aurigena :
sed te, cum trepidum spectaret Phlegra Tonantem,

impuht excussam vertice ruptus apex ; 16

cumque deos solae traherent in proelia vires

confusum valde te sine robur erat :
protulit ut mox te patrius, Sapientia, vertex,

tum mage vicerunt, te cum habuere dei. 20

te propter cessit, manibus constructa tremendis,

iam prope per rutilum machina tensa polum.

^ The Ismarian (Thracian) bard is Orpheus.

2 The meaning of this absurdity will be clear from 2. 70-
74 and 23. 185-194.

^ i.e. Attic.

* When Leto (Latona), fleeing from the persecution of
Hera (Juno), reached the floating island of Delos, it suddenly
became stationary. There Artemis (Diana) and Apollo were
born.

114

VI. PREFACE TO AVITUS

VI

PREFACE TO THE PANEGYRIC ADDRESSED
TO THE EMPEROR AVITUS

While the Thracian lyre in the hands of the
Ismarian ^ bard celebrated in ringing song the
glorious birth of Pallas with her clashing arms ; while
rivers that stood and earth that ran 2 were thronging
close in Mopsopian ^ Marathon, and the quill twanged
out its sweet notes on the strings, the goddess, 'tis
said, commended with her praise these praises ;
" Hail, divine one, whom a birth full-armed sent
forth from the opened head at the time of the giant-
war, whom Latona bore not in the depths of the
Delian cave, fain to fix the wandering Cyclad for
her offspring s sake * ; no, nor she who in bringing
forth Alcides in the land of Cadmus delayed her
travail for three nights, nor she whose tower was
steeped in the rain of metal, when the gold-begotten
son began to cumber his mother ; but while Phlegra ^
beheld the Thunderer alarmed, the crown of his
head burst open and thou wert shot forth from its
sunmiit; and as brute force and naught else was
impelling the gods to battle, their might without
thee had been sorely confounded; but after thy
father's head had brought thee forth, O goddess of
Wisdom, then the gods, with thee to aid, were
victorious as ne'er before. Thanks to thee that
great pile gave way which was built by those
dread hands and at last well-nigh pierced the

• The plains of Phlegra were the scene of the battle between
gods and giants.

"5

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Pindus, Othrys, Pholoe dextris cecidere Gigantum,

decidit et Rhoeti iam gravis Ossa manu.
sternitur Aegaeon, Briareus, Ephialta Mimasque, 25

Arctoas sueti lambere calce rotas.
Enceladus patri iacuit fratrique Typhoeus ;

Euboicam hie rupem sustinet, hie Sieulam."
Hine sese ad totam genetricem transtulit Orpheus

et doeuit chordas dicere Calliopam. 30

assurrexerunt Musae sub laude sororis

et placuit divae carmine plus pietas,
quod si maternas laudes cantasse favori est

nee valeo priseas aequiperare fides,
publicus hie pater est, vovi cui carmen, Avitus : 35

materia est maior si mihi Musa minor.

VII

PANEGYRICVS

Phoebe, peragrato tandem visurus in orbe
quem possis perferre par em, da lumina eaelo :
sufficit hie terris. nee se iam signifer astris

VI 30. decuit MPTF.

^ The snaky extremities of the giants, ending in mouths
instead offset, are treated with elaborate absurdity in 9. 76-87.

ii6

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

flaming firmament. Pindus, Othrys, and Pholoe fell
from the grasp of the giants ; down at last fell
ponderous Ossa from Rhoetus' hand; Aegeon was
laid low, and Briareus and Ephialtes and Mimas,
who were wont to lick the northern Wain with their
feet.^ Enceladus fell by thy father's hand, Typhoeus
by thy brother's ; and now the one supports an
Euboean^ mountain, the other a Sicilian."

Then Orpheus changed his theme, making his
mother the whole burden of his song, and teaching
the strings to hymn Calliope. The Muses rose in
homage at this praise of their sister, and the goddess
was gladdened even more by a son's devotion than
by his song. But if it is well pleasing to' sing a
mother's praises, and if I lack the power to match
the ancient lyre, yet in Avitus, to whom I have
vowed my song, we have here tho^ father of his people,
and though my muse be weaker, my theme is
greater.

VII

PANEGYRIC 3

O Sun-god, now at last in the circle of thy wander-
ings thou canst see one that thou art able to brook
as thine equal ; so give thy rays to heaven, for he
is sufficient to Hghten the earth. Nor need the

* A far-fetched epithet. Typhoeus was buried under the
island of Inarime (Verg. Aen. IX. 716, Lucan V. 101), the
modem Ischia, near " Euboean " Cumae (Verg. Aen. VI. 2).
According to another version he, like Enceladus, was buried
under Etna.

' Jan. 1, A.D. 456. See Introd., p. xxxvii.

117

VOL. I. Q

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

iactet, Marmaricus quern vertice conterit Atlans :
sidera sunt isti. quae sicut mersa nitescunt, 5

adversis sic Roma micat, cui fixus ab ortu
ordo fuit crevisse malis. modo principe surgit
consule ; nempe, patres, collates cernere fasces
vos iuvat et sociam sceptris mandasse curulem :
credite, plus dabitis : currus. iam necte bifrontes, 10
anceps lane, comas duplicique accingere lauro.
principis anterior, iam consulis iste coruscat
annus, et emerita trabeis diademata crescunt.
incassum iam, Musa, paves quod propulit Auster
vela ratis nostrae ; pelago quia currere famae 15
coepimus, en sidus, quod nos per caerula servet.

Forte pater superum prospexit ab aethere terras :
ecce viget quodcumque videt ; mundum reparasse
aspexisse fuit ; solus fovet omnia nutus.
iamque ut conveniant superi, Tegeaticus ales 20

nunc plantis, nunc fronte volat. vix contigit arva
et toto descendit avo : mare terra vel aer
indigenas misere deos. germane Tonantis,

7. surgit M : surget. Vid. Class. Qiuirt. loc. cit. p. 19.
20. ales Bitschofsky : archas.
21-23. dist. ego ; vid. Class. Quart, ib. ; cf. 7. 360 sq.

^ Marmarictis is used by poets for "African"; cf. 11. 103,
23. 56. Marmarica lay between Egypt and the Greater
Syrtes, and was therefore far from the Atlas range. In 5.
337, Marmarides is used in its strict sense, and in v. 448
below the Marmaricans are distinguished from the Massylians,
another north- African people.

2 See 5. 63 n.

^ "double," because it encircles two brows.

* For the meaning of trabea see n. on XV. 150 sq.

^ Mercury. Tegeaticus means no more than ' ' Arcadian " :
see n. on 1. 7. The " feet " and the " brow " aUude to the
wings attached to his sandals and to his forehead. According

Il8

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

Zodiac, that is grazed by the head of Marmaric^
Atlas, make boast of its constellations ; for this man
also hath his stars, and as stars sink only to shine
forth once more, so doth Rome's light flash forth
out of her calamities ; since from her very beginning
it hath been her fixed destiny to grow greater
by misfortunes. 2 Now she begins to rise once more
with an emperor for consul. Surely, O Senators, it
delights you to see the fasces of two dignities com-
bined and to think that ye have assigned a curule
chair to bear the sceptre company ! Believe me, ye
shall yet give more — a triumphal chariot ! Now
bind, O two-headed Janus, the locks of thy twin
brows, encircling them with a double ^ wreath of
laurel. Last year was illustrious as the emperor's,
this year is glorious as the consul's ; and the diadem
that has served us so well is enhanced by the state
robes of a magistrate.* Now, O Muse, idle is the
fear thou dost feel because the breeze hath driven
out to sea the sails of my bark ; as I have begun to
speed over the ocean of fame — behold the star that
is to protect me throughout the blue expanse !

It chanced that the father of the gods looked forth
from heaven upon the earth. Lo ! whatever he
beholds is quickened ; to view the world is to renew
it ; his mere nod revives all things. Thereupon, to
bid the gods assemble, the winged god of Tegea ^
speeds his flight now with his feet, now with his
brow. Scarce has he descended the whole length
of his grandfather ® and touched the fields when
sea, earth, and air send their native divinities. First

to another idea the second pair of wings was attached to his
hat (petasus).

« Atlas: cf. Verg. A en. IV. 258. For the fusion of the god
with his domain cf. 2. 333 and 426-8, 22. 41-46.

119

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

prime venis, viridi qui Dorida findere curru
suetus in attonita spargis cito terga serenum ; 25

umentes Nymphas Phorcus comitatur ibique
glaucus, Glauce, venis, vatum et certissime Proteu,
certus eras, longo veniunt post ordine divi :
pampineus Liber, Mars trux, Tirynthius hirtus,
nuda Venus, fecunda Ceres, pharetrata Diana, 30
luno gravis, prudens Pallas, turrita Cybebe,
Saturnus profugus, vaga Cynthia, Phoebus ephebus,
Pan pavidus, Fauni rigidi, Satyri petulantes.
convenere etiani caelum virtute tenentes.
Castor equo, Pollux caestu, Perseius harpe, 35

fulmine Vulcanus, Tiphys rate, gente Quirinus.
quis canat hie aulam caeli, rutilantia cuius
ipsa pavimentum sunt sidera ?

lam pater aureo
tranquillus sese solio locat, inde priores
consedere dei (fluviis quoque contigit illo, 40

sed senibus, residere loco, tibi, maxime fluctu
Eridane et flavis in pocula fracte Sygambris,
Rhene tumens, Scythiaeque vagis equitate catervis
Hister et ignotum plus notus, Nile, per ortum) :
cum procul erecta caeli de parte trahebat 45

35. Perseius def. Brakman : turn Perseus Mohr, Danaeius
Wilamoivitz.

* Colour-names in ancient literature are notoriously
vague; a good example of this is found in 10. 5 sq., where
first viridis and then caeruleus is applied both to Nereus and
to his dress. In 15. 132 the dress of Glaucus is called viridis.
The adjective glaucus, unhke caeruleus, is never appHed to
the deep blue of the sky, but there is regularly an element
of blue in its connotation. It is applied to the sea and other
expanses of water, to water- deities, to plants (especially,
like Greek yXavKos, to the grey-green of the ohve), to the

I20

VII. PANEGYRIC ON A\ ITUS

comes the Thunderer's OAvn brother, who, accus-
tomed as he is to cleave the sea with his green
chariot, now quickly spreads calm over the amazed
surface. Phorcus comes with the dripping nymphs,
Glaucus too, green as his name ^ ; Proteus also,
surest of seers, was there in sure presence.^ After
them comes a long array of divine beings ; Liber,
lord of the vine, fierce Mars, the shaggy hero of
Tiryns, naked Venus, fruitful Ceres, Diana with her
quiver, staid Juno, wise Pallas, tower-crowned Cybele,
Saturn the exile, fair young Phoebus, pavid Pan,
the uncouth Fauns, the wanton Satyrs. There also
assembled those that inhabit heaven by virtue of
their prowess — Castor by the steed, Pollux by the
boxing-glove, Perseus by the scimitar, Vulcan by the
thunderbolt, Tiphys by the ship, Quirinus by his
people. WTio could sing here below of heaven's
great hall, whose floor the flaming stars themselves
compose ?

Now the great Father serenely sat him down on
his golden throne ; then the chiefest gods took their
seats (and even to the rivers, such of them as are
aged, the right to be seated in that place has been
given, — Eridanus, mightiest in his torrent, the
swelling Rhine, that the yellow-haired Sygambrian
breaks to fill his cups, Danube, crossed on horseback
by Scythia's nomad hordes, and Nile, known all the
better for his unknown source). Lo ! afar, from a
lofty tract of sky, came Rome, dragging her slow

human eye (5. 240), and to many other things (including
animals). No uniform translation is possible; such words as
" blue," " green," "blue-green" (the meaning here), "blue-
grey," " grey -green " will serve at various times. A full Hst
of citations is now available in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae.
* i.e. not in one of his numerous disguises (Semple, p. 88).

121

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

pigros Roma gradus, curvato cernua collo
ora ferens ; pendent crines de vertice, tecti
pulvere, non galea, clipeusque impingitur aegris
gressibus, et pondus, non terror, fertur in hasta.
utque pii genibus primum est adfusa Tonantis, 50
" tester, sancte parens," inquit, *' te numen et illud,
quidquid Roma fui : summo satis obruta fato
invideo abiectis ; pondus non sustinet ampli
culminis arta domus nee fulmen vallibus instat.
quid, rogo, bis seno mihi vulture Tuscus haruspex 55
portendit ? iaciens primae cur moenia genti
ominibus iam eels a fui, dum collis Etrusci
fundamenta iugis aperis mihi, Romule pauper ?
plus gladio secura fui cum turbine iuncto
me Rutulus, Veiens pariterque Auruncus et Ae-
quus, 60

Hernicus et Volscus premerent. sat magna videbar
et tibi dum rumpit vitiatum femina ferro
corpus et ad castum remeas, pudor erute, vulnus.
iam cum vallatam socio me clausit Etrusco
Tarquinius : pro Muci ignes ! pro Coclitis undae ! 65
pro dolor ! hie quonam est qui sub mea iura redegit
Samnitem, Gurges, Volsci qui terga cecidit,
Marcius, et Senones fundens dictator et exul?
Fabricii vitam vellem, mortes Deciorum,
vel sic vincentem vel sic victos : mea redde 70

^ For similar utterances on the perils of greatness and the
blessed security of a low estate see commentators on Hor. C.
II. 10. 9-12, VoUmer on Stat. Silv. II. 7. 90.

^ Cf. 357 sq. The twelve vultures which appeared to
Romulus were interpreted as portending a duration of twelve
centuries for Rome. According to the usual dating of the
foundation of the city this period ended in a.d. 447, In the
middle of the fifth century many people recalled the old
augury with superstitious dread. See Gibbon, c. 35, last par.

122

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

steps along, with neck bent and head bowed ; her hair
hung Umply down, covered not with a hehnet but with
dust ; at each feeble step her shield knocked against
her, and in her spear there was no terror, but
only heaviness. Flinging herself at the feet of
gracious Jove she cried : " O holy Father, I call thee
to witness — thee and that divinity of other days, all
that I, Rome, have been: wholly overwhelmed by
my exalted fortune, I envy the very outcast; a
narrow house has not a spacious roof to support, and
the lowly vales are not harassed by the lightning.^
What, pray, did the Tuscan seer foretell for me
from the twelve vultures ? ^ Why is it that when
but beginning to build walls for my infant people I
was already raised on high by omens of greatness,
when Romulus in his poverty dug foundations for
me on the ridge of the Tuscan hill ? Through my
sword I knew greater safety than now, when in a
massed hurricane Rutulian, Veientine, Aequian,
Hernican, and Volscian bore down upon me. Mighty
enough I seemed even to thee when the woman
stabbed with the knife her sullied body, and her
ravished honour returned with that chaste wound.^
Tarquin with his Etruscan ally shut me within my
new-built rampart. Alas for the fire that Mucius,
the water that Horatius braved! Woe is me!
Where is there here a Gurges * — the man who
brought the Samnite under my sway? Where the
Marcius who cut down the flying Volscian, or he
who routed the Senones, a dictator and an exile ?^
Would that I had Fabricius as he lived, the Decii as
they died, victory such as his or defeat like theirs :

' Lucretia. * Q. Fabius Maximus Gurges.

* Camilltis : cf. 2. 526 sq.

123

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

principia. heu ! quo nunc pompae ditesque triumphi
et pauper consul ? Libycum mea terruit axem
cuspis et infido posui iuga tertia Poeno.
Indorum Ganges, Colchorum Phasis, Araxes
Armeniae, Ger Aethiopum Tanaisque Getarum 75
Thybrinum tremuere meum. me Teutone iuncto
quondam fracte subis Cimber, gladiisque gravatas
ante manus solas iussi portare catenas,
vae mihi ! qualis eram, cum per mea iussa iuberent
Sulla, Asiatogenes, Curius, Paulus, Pompeius 80

Tigrani, Antiocho, Pyrrho, Persae, Mithridati
pacem ac regna, fugam, vectigal, vincla, venenvun.
Sauromatem taceo ac Moschum solitosque cruentum
lac potare Getas ac pocula tingere venis
vel, cum diffugiunt, fugiendos tum mage Persas. 85
nee terras dixisse sat est : fulgentibus armis
tot maria intravi duce te longeque remotas
sole sub occiduo gentes. victricia Caesar
signa Caledonios transvexit ad usque Britannos ;
fuderit et quamquam Scotum et cum Saxone Pictum,
hostes quaesivit, quem iam natura vetabat 91

quaerere plus homines, vidit te frangere Leucas,
trux Auguste, Pharon, dum classicus Actia miles
stagna quatit profugisque bibax Antonius armis
incestam vacuat patrio Ptolomaida regno. 95

80. fort. Asiatogenes Luetjohann : Asiagenes.

81. Perseo Luetjohann : perso (perse M) codd.

82. ac add. ego : aw et ? patria regna Mohr.

^ The correspondences are : Sulla, Mithridates, poison (a
flagrant inaccuracy); Asiaticus, Antiochus, tribute; Curius,

124

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

give me back my beginnings ! Alas ! Where now
are those pageants, those triumphs rich of a consul
poor? My spears affrighted Libya's clime, and I
laid the yoke even a third time upon the faithless
Carthaginian. Ganges of the Indian, Phasis of the
Colchian, Araxes of Armenia, Ger of the Ethiopians,
Tanais of the Getae, all trembled before my Tiber.
I bethink me too of the Cimbrian and the leagued
Teuton shattered of old, when I ordered hands till
then loaded with the sword to caiTy naught but chains.
Alas for what I was when at my bidding Sulla,
Asiaticus, Curius, Paulus, Pompeius demanded of
Tigranes, Antiochus, Pyrrhus, Perseus, and Mithri-
dates peace and realms, banishment, tribute, chains,
and poison ! ^ I say naught of the Sauromatians or
of the Moschans or of the Getae, whose wont it is
to drink bloody milk and stain their cups with
severed veins ; or of the Persians,^ most to be shunned
when they shun the foe. Nor is it enough to speak
of the land alone, for with thee to guide me 1 have
entered many a sea and nations far away under the
setting sun. Caesar took his victorious legions over
even to the Caledonian Britons, and although he
routed the Scot, the Pict and the Saxon, he still
looked for foes where nature forbade him to look
any more for men. Leucas saw the fierce Augustus
shatter Egypt, when the warriors of the fleet shook
the waters of Actium and the tippler Antonius by the
rout of his arms ousted the unclean daughter of the
house of Ptolemy from her ancestral kingdom. And

Pyrrhus, flight; Paulus, Perseus, chains; Pompeius,
Tigranes, peace and realms (the latter referring perhaps to
the two provinces of Sophene and Gordyene).
' i.e. The Parthians.

125

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

cumque prius stricto quererer de cardine mundi,
nee limes nunc ipsa mihi. plus, summe deorum,
sum iusto tibi visa potens quod Parthicus ultro
restituit mea signa Sapor positoque tiara
funera Crassorum flevit dum purgat. ethinciam 100
(pro dolor !) excusso populi iure atque senatus
quod timui incurri ; sum tota in principe, tota
principis, et fio lacerum de Caesare regnum,
quae quondam regina fui ; Capreasque Tiberi
et caligas Gai Claudi censura secuta est 105

et vir morte Nero ; tristi Pisone verendum
Galbam sternis, Otho, speculo qui pulcher haberi
dum captas, ego turpis eram ; mihi foeda Vitelli
intulit ingluvies ventrem, qui tempore parvo
regnans sero perit ; lassam post inclitus armis 110
Vespasianus habet, Titus hinc, post hunc quoque

frater ;
post quem tranquillus vix me mihi reddere Nerva
coepit, adoptivo factus de Caesare maior ;
Vlpius inde venit, quo formidata Sygambris
Agrippina fuit, fortis, pius, integer, acer. 115

talem capta precor. Traianum nescio si quis
aequiperet, ni fors iterum tu, Gallia, mittas

^ i.e. " the precincts of my own city are not intact "
(Semple, p. 89).

2 Phraates IV : see n. on 2. 457.

' i.e. successive Caesars are reducing Rome's dominion
more and more.

* A reference to the nickname Caligula (=httle mihtary
boot) given to Gains in his boyhood by the soldiers, becauise
he went about the barracks dressed like a soldier. For the
allusions to Claudius and Otho in this passage see nn. on 5.
322 sq.
126

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

I, who complained aforetime that the world's limits
were too narrow, am now not even a boundary to
myself.^ O chiefest of the gods, I seemed to thee
more powerful than is meet, inasmuch as the Parthian
Sapor 2 freely restored my standards and, laying
aside his royal tiara, wept for the deaths of the
Crassi as he made atonement therefor. And hence
now, woe is me ! I have fallen upon the fate I
feared, after wresting their rights from senate and
people ; I am merged in the Emperor, wholly the
Emperor's property, and through Caesar I who
was once a queen am becoming a mangled realm.^
Tiberius with his Capri and Gaius with his soldier's
boots* were followed by Claudius with his censor-
ship and Nero, who in death played the man ; Galba,
to whom the stern Piso gave a claim to reverence,
was laid low by Otho, who, while he sought by his
mirror to seem beautiful, made me ugly. Then
Mtellius, with his loathsome gluttony, thrust his
paunch upon me, and though he reigned but a short
time he perished all too late. Thus sore wearied
was I when Vespasian, famed man of war, possessed
me, and after him Titus, after Titus his brother; and
after him the tranquil Nerva scarce began to make me
myself again, — Nerva, who made himself greater by
the Caesar he adopted. Then came Trajan, by whose
doing Agrippina ^ became a terror to the Sygam-
brians, an emperor gallant, faithful, righteous and
vigorous. In my captivity I pray for such another.
I know not if anyone can match Trajan — unless
perchance Gaul should once more^ send forth a man

* Colonia Agrippina (Cologne).

* Trajan was a native of Spain, which was now included in
the " Prefecture of the Gauls."

127

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

qui vincat." lacrimae vocem clausere precantis,
et quidquid superest luctus rogat. undique caeli
assurgunt proceres, Mars, Cypris, Romulus et qui 120
auctores tibi, Roma, dei ; iam mitior ipsa
flectitur atque iras veteres Saturnia donat.

luppiterista refert : " Fatum, quo cuncta reguntur
quoque ego, non licuit frangi. sat celsa laborant
semper, et elatas nostro de munere vires 125

invidit Fortuna sibi ; sed concipe magnos,
quamquam fracta, animos. si te Porsenna soluto
plus timuit de ponte fremens, si moenia capta
mox Brenni videre fugam, si denique dirum
Hannibalem iuncto terrae caelique tumultu 130

reppulimus (cum eastra tuis iam proximia muris
starent, Collina fulmen pro turre cucurrit,
atque illic iterum timuit natura paventem
post Phlegram pugnare lovem) : torpentia tolle
lumina, detersam mentem caligo relinquat. 135

te mirum est vinci ; incipies cum vincere, mirum
non erit. utque tibi pateat quo surgere tandem
fessa modo possis, paucis, cognosce, docebo.

" Est mihi, quae Latio se sanguine tollit alumnam,
tellus clara viris, cui non dedit optima quondam 140
rerum opifex natura parem ; fecundus ab urbe
126. fortuna M : natura.
128. fremens M : tremens.

^ The Roman army was encamped between the Colline and
Esquiline Gates when Hannibal approached Rome (Livy
XXVI. 10. 1); the battlemented Colline Gate is called
Collina turris also by Juvenal (VI. 291) and Claudian {Gild.
86). Livy mentions the blinding storms of rain and hail,
which occurred on two consecutive days {ib. 11. 2 sq.), but
makes no mention of lightning; Sidonius probably borrowed
this (and not only this) from the grandiose description by
Silius (XII. 605-728; cf. XIII. 15-20). Cf. Juv, VII. 163.

2 See n. on 6. 15.

128

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

who should even surpass him." Tears choked the
suppliant's voice, and her grief served for what
remained of her petition. On all sides the chiefs of
heaven rise in her honour, Mars, Venus, Romulus
and the gods that made Rome great ; even Saturn's
daughter is moved to greater gentleness and forgoes
her ancient wrath.

Then answered Jupiter : " Fate, whereby all
things — yea, I myself — are governed, might not be
violated. Whatever has reached its highest bourne
must needs be afflicted, and Fortune hath grudged
to aid a power that hath been exalted by my bounty.
But broken though thou art, be of right good cheer.
If Porsenna feared thee more than ever when he
raged indignant at the severing of the bridge, if the
walls that Brennus captured soon saw his flight, if,
last of all, we drove back Hannibal with a wild out-
burst from earth and sky alike (his camp already stood
nigh to thy walls when in front of the Colline tower a
thunderbolt rushed down,^ and Nature feared that
there once again, as in Phlegra's ^ combat, Jove was
fighting in terror), raise thy drooping eyes, let the
dark mist be wiped away and vanish from thy soul.
'Tis a marvel that thou shouldst be conquered, but
when thou beginnest to conquer, 'twill be no marvel.
And now, that it may be plain to thee how thou
mayest rise again, worn out as thou art, hearken
and I will declare it in few words.

" I have a land which carries its head high as
sprung from Latin blood,^ a land famed for its men,
a land to which Nature, the blessed creator of all
things, vouchsafed no peer in days gone by.

' This claim of the Arvemi is mentioned in Lucan I. 427 sq,,
a passage recalled by Sidonius in Epist. VII. 7. 2.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

poUet ager, primo qui vix proscissus aratro
semina tarda sitit vel luxuriante iuvenco
arcana exponit piceam pinguedine glaebam.
assurrexit huic, coxit quod torridus Auster, 145

Niliacum Libycumque solum, collataque semper
arida Mygdoniae damnarunt Gargara falces ;
Apulus et Calaber cessit. spes unica rerum,
banc, Arverne, colens nuUi pede cedis in armis,
quosvis vincis equo. testis mihi Caesaris esto 150
hie nimium Fortuna pavens, cum coUe repulsus
Gergoviae castris miles vix restitit ipsis.
hos ego tam fortes volui, sed cedere Avitum
dum tibi, Roma, paro, rutilat cui maxima dudum
stemmata complexum germen, palmata cucurrit 155
per proavos, gentisque suae te teste, Philagri,
patricius resplendet apex, sed portio quanta est
haec laudum, laudare patres, quos quippe curules
et praefecturas constat debere nepoti ?
sint alii per quos se postuma iactet origo, 160

et priscum titulis numeret genus alter : Avite,

^ Proscindere is the technical term for the first ploughing.
Here no further ploughing is required, so the oxen have a lazy
time. [This explanation of luxuriante is given by Dr. Semple,
p. 91.]

* The Patrician Philagrius to whom Avitus was related is
no doubt the man mentioned in Epist. II. 3. 1 as a remote
ancestor of our poet's old schoolfellow, Magnus Felix (see n.
on Carm. 9. 1). He cannot be the Philagrius to whom Epist.
VII. 14 is addressed, but he may be the one mentioned in Carm.
24. 93. Modern authorities treat the two (or three) men as
one.

* i.e. their distinctions came to them because it was ordained
that a descendant should be Emperor; it was his destined

130

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

From the city extend rich and fruitful fields;
scarce are they cloven with the early ploughing ^
when they thirst for the tardy seeds, and while
the ox enjoys luxurious ease they display clods
made black by some fatness mysteriously at work.
To this soil the tilth of Nile and Libya, baked by
the scorching south wind, hath yielded pride of
place, and Gargarus, compared with such land, hath
always been condemned by Phrygian sickles as
withered ; the Apulian and the Calabrian have like-
wise owned defeat. O Arvernian, who dwellest
therein, sole hope for the world, thou yieldest to
none when thou fight est on foot, and on thy steed
thou art a match for any man! Let Fortune,
Caesar's attendant goddess, be my witness, who
was sore dismayed in this land when his warriors
were forced back from Gergovia's hill and scarce
halted their flight at their very camp. I ordained
that these men should be thus gallant, but all the
time I was making ready, O Rome, to present to
thee A Vitus, whose natal tree, rich in noble branches,
hath long shone illustrious, whose forefathers
have time after time been adorned with the palm-
decked robe, and whose race, as Philagrius bears
witness, is iiTadiated by a Patrician's dignity. ^ But
how small a part of his meed of praise is such praise
of his forefathers, who manifestly owe their curule
rank and prefectures to their descendant ! ^ There
may be others of whom the later scions of their race
will make boast ; another may recount the ancient
honours of his line ; but thou alone, Avitus, dost

greatness that was the real cause of their dignities. Thus it is
he who ennobles his ancestors, not his ancestors who ennoble
him {v. 162).

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

nobilitas tu solus avos. libet edere tanti
gesta viri et primam paucis percurrere vitam.

" Solverat in partum generosa puerpera casti
ventris onus ; manifesta dedi mox signa futuri 165
principis ac tot am fausto trepidi patris aulam
implevi augurio. licet idem grandia nati
culparet fata et pueri iam regna videret,
sed sibi commissum tanto sub pignore cernens
mundi depositum, ne quid tibi, Roma, periret, 170
iuvit fortunam studio, lactantia primum
membra dedit nivibus, glaciemque inrumpere plantis
iussit et attritas parvum ridere pruinas.
surgentes animi Musis formantur et illo
quo Cicerone tonas ; didicit quoque facta tuorum 175
ante ducum ; didicit pugnas libroque relegit
quae gereret campo. primus vix coeperat esse
ex infante puer, rabidam cum forte cruentis
rictibus atque escas ieiuna fauce parantem
plus catulis stravlt (fuerant nam fragmina prop-
ter) 180
arrepta de caute lupam, fractusque molari
dissiluit vertex et saxum vulnere sedit.
sic meus Alcides, Nemeae dum saltibus errat,
occurrit monstro vacuus, non robora portans,
non pharetras ; stetit ira fremens atque hoste pro-
pinquo 185
consuluit solos virtus decepta lacertos.
" Parva quidem, dicenda tamen : quis promptior isto

167. sq. dist. ego ; vid. Class. Quart, loc. cit. pp. 19 sq.
185. fremens Buechder et Wilamowitz: tremens codd.
plerique.

132

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

ennoble thy forefathers. Fain am I to relate the
deeds of this great man and in few words to run
through his earliest years.

" His noble mother had been released from her
chaste travail; anon I gave plain tokens of the
emperor that was to be, and filled with happy augury
the whole palace of the anxious father. He, 'tis
true, murmured at his son's high destiny, already
seeing his boy a sovereign ; nevertheless, discerning
in this great pledge the whole world's trust com-
mitted to his keeping, he seconded fortune's bounty
by his own diligence, lest thou, O Rome, shouldst
suffer loss. First he surrendered the suckling's limbs to
the snows ; he compelled him while a little child to
break the ice with his feet and to laugh at the frost
as he trod it down. His growing mind was moulded
by the Muses and by the Cicero that bestows on
thee tones of thunder ; he learned also the deeds of
thy leaders of former days ; he learned of battles
and read in the vvritten page what he should per-
form in the field. Scarce had he changed infancy
for boyhood when, seeing a she-wolf ravening with
bloody jaws agape as with hungry mouth she sought
food, chiefly for her cubs, he snatched a stone (for
there were pieces of rock hard by) and laid her low.
Shattered by the boulder her head split open, and the
stone sank down in the wound. Even so my Hercules,
as he roamed the glens of Nemea, faced the monster
empty-handed, carrying neither club nor quiver ; in
raging wrath he took his stand, and with the enemy
nigh that brave spirit, taken unawares, looked for
aid to naught but his own strong arms.

" Small things, yet worthy to be told are these : —
Who was quicker than he to lower to the scent the

133

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

tensa catenati summittere colla Molossi
et lustris recubare feras interprete nare
discere non visas et in aere quaerere plantas ? 190
iam si forte suem latratibus improbus Vmber
terruit, albentes nigro sub gutture lunas
frangere ludus erat colluctantique lacerto
vasta per adversas venabula cogere praedas.
quam pulchrum, cum forte domum post lustra re-
vertens 195

horrore splenderet apri virtusque repugnans
proderet invitum per fortia facta pudorem !
sic Pandioniis castae Tritonidos arvis
Hippolytus roseo sudum radiabat ab ore,
sed simul a gemino flagrans cum Cressa furore 200
transiit adfectu matres et fraude novercas.

" Quid volucrum studium, dat quas natura rapaces
in vulgus prope cognatum ? quis doctior isto
instituit varias per nubila iungere lites ?
alite vHncit aves, celerique per aethera plausu 205
hoc nuUi melius pugnator militat unguis.

" Nee minus haec inter civilia iura secutus
eligitur primus, iuvenis, solus, mala fractae
alliget ut patriae poscatque informe recidi
vectigal. procerum tum forte potentior illic, 210
post etiam princeps, Constantius omnia praestat,

* Hounds.

* " Pandionian " means " Attic," from Pandion, king of
Athens, father of Procne and Philomela. "Tritonis" means
Pallas Athena ; of. 15. 179. ^ Falconry.

* Sidonius makes it clear that Constantius was not yet
Emperor. He does not actually say that Constantius was in
Gaul at the time, and some have supposed that the embassy
went to Ravenna, where Constantius was persuaded to use his
influence with Honorius. But the description of Constantius
as potentior illic seems to imply that he was commanding in

134

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

taut necks of the leashed Molossians,i to learn by the
guidance of their nostrils that wild beasts he could not
see were lurking in the den, and to seek for tracks in
the air ? Again, if haply the irrepressible Umbrian
hound frightened a boar by his barking, it was sport
to this lad to smash the white crescents under the
monster's black throat and with straining arm to
drive a huge spear through the confronting quarry.
What a beautiful sight when, returning home from
the chase, he would appear all the more resplendent
for the boar's bristling hideousness, and his gallantry
in its own despite baulked his shrinking modesty
by this evidence of brave deeds ! Thus in the
Pandionian fields of chaste Tritonis ^ was Hippolytus
wont to diffuse a sunny radiance from his glowing
countenance — though it was then that the Cretan
woman, fired by a double frenzy, overpassed a
mother's love and a stepmother's guile.

" \Vhat of his devotion to the birds that nature
creates to prey upon the common throng of creatures
almost their kin ? ^ Who more skilfully trains them
to clash in divers contests amid the clouds ? With a
bird he vanquishes birds ; with a swift whirring
through the upper air the warrior claw fights for
none more gallantly than for him.

" And amid these sports he followed the law none
the less, and, young though he was, he was chosen
first and alone to bind up the wounds of his shattered
homeland and to make claim for the abolishment of
a hideous tax. It chanced that Constantius * was
chief lord in those parts — he who anon was emperor ;

Gaul. It is indeed quite probable that patriae (209) refers to
Auvergne. We learn from Greg. Tur. II. 9 that the " generals
of Honoriua " acted with great severity towards the supporters

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

indole defixus tanta et miratus in annis

parvis grande bonum vel in ore precantis ephebi

verba senis.

" Ducis hinc pugnas et foedera regum
pandere, Roma, libet. variis incussa procellis 215
bellorum regi Getico tua Gallia pacis
pignora iussa dare est, inter quae nobilis obses
tu, Theodore, venis ; quem pro pietate propinqui
expetis in media pelliti principis aula
tutus, Avite, fide, probat hoc iam Theudoris

altum 220

exemplum officii, res mira et digna relatu,
quod fueris blandus regi placuisse feroci.
hinc te paulatim praelibat sensibus imis
atque nimis vult esse suum ; sed spernis amicum
plus quam Romanum gerere. stupet ille repul-

sam 225

et plus inde places, rigidum sic, Pyrrhe, videbas
Fabricium, ingestas animo cum divite fugit
pauper opes, regem temnens, dum supplice censu
pignus amicitiae vili mendicat ab auro.
224. nimis Mohr : animis.

of Jovinus in the land of the Arvernians, but Sidonius can
scarcely be alluding to such an early date (Jovinus fell in
A.D. 413). Constantius was so often and so long in Gaul that
we cannot fix the reference with any certainty. If the vectigal
was a tax levied by the government, only the Emperor could
remit it, and we must then suppose that Avitus persuaded
Constantius to use his influence with Honorius to that end.
It may, however, refer to the requisitions for the pay and
provisioning of the army (annona militaris).

^ The Theodoras here mentioned is not otherwise known.
It is scarcely likely that he is the man mentioned in Epist.
III. 10. 1. The Gothic king is Theodoric I (419-451). It is
thought that the hostages referred to here were given to him
on the occasion of his treaty with the Romans which gave him

136

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

and he granted all that was asked, marvelling at
such great talent and astonished at such full-grown
virtue in those boyish years, at such elderly speech
on the lips of the suppliant youth.

" And now, O Rome, I would fain relate the battles
wherein he commanded and the compacts he made
with kings. Thy land of Gaul, buffeted by divers
tempests of war, was bidden to give to the Gothic
king sureties of peace, and among them, a noble
hostage, went Theodorus.^ Avitus, in loving duty
to his kin, sought him out in the midst of the skin-
clad monarch's court, and his loyalty won him safety.
Theodoric soon looked with favour on this sublime
devotion. Marvellous indeed is it and worthy to be
recorded that by thy gentle winsomeness, Avitus,
thou didst find grace with a fierce king. I^ittle by
little he began to know thee in his inmost soul, and
he desired exceedingly to have thee as one of his
own; but thou didst scorn to act the friend rather
than the Roman. The king marvelled at this rebuff,
but esteemed thee all the more for it. Even thus
did Pyrrhus see Fabricius immovable, when that
poor man with rich soul shunned the riches thrust
upon him, despising the king in that he made his
wealth play the suppliant and begged with paltry
gold for a bond of friendship.

sovereignty over Aquitanica Secunda and Novempopulana
(Introd., p. xvii). This is possible if we accept one of the two
dates usually given for that agreement (426 and 430), but
not if, with Stein (p. 482), we place it in 439. The giving
of hostages does not necessarily imply that the Gothic king-
dom was now independent ; see Stein, loc. cit., n. 3. See also
n. on 495 sqq. Some eminent historians {e.g. Mommsen) have
erred seriously through ignorance of the meaning of expetis
(t). 219). In Sidonius and other late Latin ^v^ite^s this verb
often means " seek out," " visit."

^37

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

." Aetium interea, Scythico quia saepe duello est 230
edoctus, sequeris ; qui, quamquam celsus in armis,
nil sine te gessit, cum plurima tute sine illo.
nam post luthungos et Norica bella subacto
victor Vindelico Belgam, Burgundio quem trux
presserat, absolvit iunctus tibi. vincitur illic 235
cursu Herulus, Chunus iaculis Francusque natatu,
Sauromata clipeo, Salius pede, falce Gelonus,
vulnere vel si quis plangit cui flesse feriri est
ac ferro perarasse genas vultuque minaci
rubra cicatricum vestigia defodisse. 240

" Inlustri iam tum donatur celsus honore.
squameus et rutilis etiamnunc livida cristis

232. tute L. Mueller : tu.
238. feriri C«i^: perire.

* It is important to note that interea is often used in poetry
to introduce a new action subsequent to, not contempor-
aneous with, the events just described. For this use in Virgil
see D. W. Reinmuth in Amer. Journ. Phil. LIV. (1933), pp.
323-339, especiaUy 328-330. "Meanwhile" is often ^ a
misleading translation.

2 The Huns were for years the mainstay of Aetius' army,
and "Scythian warfare" in all probabihty means war waged
by means of Hunnish forces. It is scarcely likely that the
meaning is "hostilities with the Goths" (n. on 5. 219), which
had apparently gone on with little intermission from about
A.D. 425 to 430, and in which Aetius had played an important
part. The details are obscure, though it is certain that
Theodoric made at least one unsuccessful attempt to take
Aries.

3 The luthungi were subdued by Aetius in a.d. 430; the
contest with the Noricans and the Vindelicians no doubt took
place in the course of the same expedition. All modern
authorities infer from this passage that Avitus took part in
the campaign against the luthungi and their neighbours, but
Sidonius does not say so,

* The Burgundians rose in a.d. 435 and were crushed in

138

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

" Anon ^ thou didst follow Aetius, because he
had learnt many a lesson from the Scythian war-
fare 2 ; and he, glorious in arms though he was, did
no deed without thee, though thou didst many
without him. For when he had finished with the
luthungi 3 and the war in Noricum, and had subdued
the Vindelicians, thereafter in partnership with thee
did he deliver the Belgians, whom the fierce Bur-
gundian had harassed.* There the Herulian found
in thee his match in fleetness, the Hun in javelin-
throwing, the Frank in swimming, the Sauromatian
in use of shield, the Salian in marching, the Gelonian
in wielding the scimitar ; and in bearing of wounds
thou didst surpass any mourning barbarian ^ to whom
wailing means self-wounding and tearing the cheeks
with steel and gouging the red traces of scars on his
threatening face.

" Even thus early this hero was glorified by
bestowal of the title of Illustrious.^ Wearing his
scale-armour, his face still bearing the mark of the

the following year. It is obvious from this passage that
Roman forces were used in the campaign; Bury (I. 249)
must be wrong in thinking that the Huns were put in
independent charge of it.

' The construction is vel (= et) vtUnere (" in the matter of a
wound") vincitur (" is surpassed") si quia (= quisquis) plangit.

* The viri inlustres were the highest class of the senatorial
order. As Avitus had not yet held any of the high offices
of state which gave a right to the title, it must have been
bestowed as an honorary distinction. It is somewhat surprising
to find a Gallo-Roman reaching that dignity at such an early
stage in his career. It is obvious that in this period he held a
high military rank, and the Prefectship which soon followed
shows that he was already a marked man. But as the Praetorian
Prefect became inlustris as a matter ol course, one is tempted
to suspect that Sidonius has antedated the conferment of the
title on Avitus.

J39

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

ora gerens vix arma domum sordentia castris

rettulerat : nova bella iterum pugnamque sub ipsis

iam patriae muris periurus commovet hostis. 245

Litorius Scythicos equites turn forte subacto

celsus Aremorico Geticum rapiebat in agmen

per terras, Arverne, tuas ; qui proxima quaeque

discursu, flammis, ferro, feritate, rapinis

delebant, pacis fallentes nomen inane. 250

huius turn famulum quidam truculentior horum,

mox feriende, feris ; ruit ille et tristia fata

commendat domino absenti partemque futuram

vindictae moriens Stygium spe portat ad amnem.

et iam fama viro turres portasque tuenti 255

intuitu pa\idae plebis perfert scelus actum.

excutitur, restat, pallet, rubet, alget et ardet,

ac sibimet multas vultum variata per unum

ira facit fades, vel, qui mos saepe dolenti, 259

plus amat extinctum ; tandem prorumpit et arma,

arma fremit, pinguisque etiamnum sanguine fertur

lorica, obtusus per barbara vulnera contus

atque sub assiduis dentatus caedibus ensis.

includit suras ocreis capitique micantem

imponit galeam, fulvus cui crescit in altum 265

conus et iratam iaculatur vertice lucem.

et iam scandit equum vulsisque a cardine portis

emicat ; adsistunt socio Virtusque Dolorque

et Pudor : armatas pilo petit impiger alas

245. periurus Wilamoimtz : periturus.

^ Celsus may mean " made glorious."

^ For the conquest of the Aremoricans by Litorius and his
subsequent march against the Goths, who were besieging
Narbonne, see Introd., p. xvi. The present passage refers to
a lawless body of Hunnish auxiliaries, no doubt detached from
the main body of Litorius 's forces.

140

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

burnished helmet, scarce had he brought home his
stained arms from the field when there came fresh
wars and a battle this time under the very walls of
his own city, stirred up by a faithless foe. Litorius,
elated ^ by the conquest of the Aremoricans,^ was
hurrying his Scythian horsemen against the Gothic
host through the land of the Arvernian, and they
with raid and fire and sword and barbarity and
pillage were destroying all things near them, betray-
ing and making void the name of peace. A servant
of Avitus was wounded by one of these, more savage
than his fellows, soon to be wounded in turn; the
victim fell, and falling conunended his woeful fate to
the vengeance of his absent master, and as he died
he carried ^vith him to the Stygian stream a hopeful
foretaste of the revenge that w^as to come. Now
Rumour brought knowledge of the dastard deed to
our leader as he kept his ward of towers and gates,
regardful of the scared populace. He starts, halts,
grows pale, grows red, grows cold and hot; his
anger in its changing phases takes many forms in
that one countenance, and, as is oft the mourner's
way, he loves the lost one more than ever. At
length he dashes forward, shouting again and again
for his arms, and they bring him his corselet, still
clotted with gore, his lance blunted by wounds dealt
upon the barbarians, and his sword notched by
unceasing slaughter. He cases his legs in greaves
and puts upon his head a gleaming helmet, whereon
a golden crest-base rises aloft, darting an angry
flash from on high. Next he mounts his charger,
and tearing the gates from their hinges rushes
forth; Valour and Grief and Honour range them-
selves with their ally; eagerly he charges with his

141

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

pugnando pugnam quaerens, pavidumque per ag-
men 270

multorum interitu compensat quod latet unus.
sic Phrygium Emathia victorem cuspide poscens
Aeacides caeso luctum frenavit amico,
per mortes tot, Troia, tuas (nam vilia per se
agmina) contentus ruere strictumque per amplos 275
exserere gladium populos ; natat obruta tellus
sanguine, dumque hebetat turba grave caedua telum
absens in cuncto sibi vulnere iam cadit Hector,
proditus ut tandem tanti qui causa tumultus,
inquit Avitus : * Age, Scythica nutrite sub Arcto,
qui furis et caeso tantum qui fidis inermi, 281

congredere armato. multum tibi praestitit ira
iam mea : concessi pugnam iubeoque resistas ;
certantem mactasse iuvat.' sic fatur et aequor
prosilit in medium, nee non ferus advenit hostis. 285
ut primum pectus vel comminus ora tulere,
hie ira tremit, ille metu. iam cetera turba
diversis trepidat votis variosque per ictus
pendet ab eventu. sed postquam prima, secunda
tertiaque acta rota est, venit ecce et celsa cruen-
tum 290

perforat hasta virum, post et confinia dorsi
cedit transfosso ruptus bis pectore thorax,
et dum per duplicem sanguis singultat hiatum
dividua ancipitem carpserunt vulnera vitam.

273-5. dist.ego.

274. nam ego dubitanter : iam.

^ i.e. fighting his way through the ranks in order to meet
the hiding murderer.

2 Achilles after the slaying of Patroclus by Hector.

142

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

pike the armed ranks, seeking a fight by fighting,^
and amid the fear-stricken throng he makes the death
of many pay for the absence of the one that lurks
concealed. Even so did the scion of Aeacus,^ rang-
ing with his spear in search of the Phrygian victor,
hold back his mourning when his friend was slain,
content to rush in a tide of death-dealing among
Troy's host (for in themselves he counted those
hordes as naught), and to wield the drawn sword
through multitudinous throngs ; the ground was
submerged and swam in blood, and as the falling
ranks blunted his heavy weapon he saw already in
every wound he dealt the absent Hector fall. When
at last he who was the cause of that great havoc
stood revealed, then said Avitus : ' Ho ! thou fellow
reared 'neath the Scythian Bear, who ragest like a
madman and hast such boldness from slaying the
unarmed, come, meet one who is armed! Already
my wrath has allowed thee a great boon; I have
granted thee a fight, and I bid thee stand thy
ground; I choose to slaughter a resisting foe.'
Thus he spake, and bounded forth into the midst of
the plain; and the barbarous foe likewise came.
When first they approached, breast to breast and
face to face, the one shook with anger, the other with
fear. Now the general throng stands in sore sus-
pense, with prayers on this side or on that, and as
blow follows blow they hang on the issue. But when
the first bout, the second, the third have been
fought, lo ! the upraised spear comes and pierces
the man of blood ; his breast was transfixed and
his corselet twice split, giving way even where it
covered the back ; and as the blood came throbbing
through the two gaps the separate wounds took
away the life that each of them might claim.

143

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

" Haec post gesta viri (temet, Styx livida, tester)
intemerata mihi praefectus iura regebat ; 296

et caput hoc sibimet solitis defessa ruinis
Gallia suscipiens Getica pallebat ab ira.
nil prece, nil pretio, nil milite fractus agebat
Aetius ; capto terrarum damna patebant 300

Litorio ; in Rhodanum proprios producere fines
Theudoridae fixum, nee erat pugnare necesse,
sed migrare Getis. rabidam trux asperat iram
victor ; quod sensit Scythicum pro moenibus hostem,
imputat ; et nil est gravius, si forsitan umquam 305
vincere contingat, trepido. postquam undique nul-
lum
praesidium ducibusque tuis nil, Roma, relictum est,
foedus, Avite, novas ; saevum tua pagina regem
lecta domat ; iussisse sat est te, quod rogat orbis.
credent hoc umquam gentes populique futuri ? 310
littera Romani cassat quod, barbare, vincis.
iura igitur rexit ; namque hoc quoque par fuit, ut tum
assertor fieret legum qui nunc erit auctor,
ne dandus populis princeps, caput, induperator,
Caesar et Augustus solum fera proelia nosset. 315

" lam praefecturae perfunctus culmine tandem
se dederat ruri (numquam tamen otia, numquam
desidia imbellis, studiumque et cura quieto
armorum semper) : subito cum rupta tumultu

^ The prefecture of Avitus began in a.d. 439, the year in
which Litorius was defeated near Toulouse (Introd., pp. xvif.,
and it seems to have lasted for some years. Litorius, though
finally defeated, inflicted heavy losses on the Goths, and
it was perhaps this fact, as much as the diplomacy of Avitus,
that persuaded the king to come to terms with the
Romans.

144

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

" After these valiant deeds (I call even thee, dark
Styx, to witness) he was my prefect,^ administering
the laws without corruption. Gaul when she re-
ceived him as her head was worn out with the familiar
devastation and pale with affright at the Gothic
wrath. Aetius was broken ; naught could he do by
prayer or bribe or with his soldiers; and when
Litorius was captured the destitution of the land stood
revealed. Theodoric was resolved to advance his
own boundaries to the Rhone, and the Goths needed
not to fight, but only to migrate. The fierce victor
whetted his raging wrath ; he counted it a sin against
him that he had known the presence of the Scythian
foe 2 before his walls, and naught is more grievous
than a frightened man if he ever chance to be
victorious. When there was no support anywhere
and no resource, O Rome, was left to thy leaders,
Avitus renewed the treaty ; the reading of his scroll
subdued the king ; Avitus had but to order that which
the world begged for. Will future races and peoples
ever believe this ? — a Roman's letter annulled a
barbarian's conquests. So he administered the laws ;
for this also was fitting, that at that time he should
become the champion of the laws who will now be
their maker, lest he who was to be given to the
peoples as prince, head, emperor, Caesar, and
Augustus should have no knowledge save of savage
battles.

" Now he had discharged the prefect's majestic
office, and he had devoted himself to country life
(though never with him was there idleness or unwar-
like sloth, but even in those peaceful days arms were
ever his study and his care) — when suddenly the bar-

* The Huns under Litorius.

145

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

barbaries totas in te transfuderat Arctos, 320

Gallia, pugnacem Rugum comitante Gelono
Gepida trux sequitur ; Scirum Burgundio cogit ;
Chunus, Bellonotus, Neurus, Bastarna, Toringus,
Bructerus, ulvosa vel quern Nicer alluit unda
prorumpit Francus ; cecidit cito secta bipenni 325
Hercynia in lintres et Rhenum texuit alno ;
et iam terrificis diffuderat Attila turmis
in campos se, Belga, tuos. vix liquerat Alpes
Aetius, tenue et rarum sine milite ducens
robur in auxiliis, Geticum male credulus agmen 330
incassum propriis praesumens adfore castris.
nuntius at postquam ductorem perculit, Hunos
iam prope contemptum propriis in sedibus hostem
exspectare Getas, versat vagus omnia secum
consilia et mentem curarum fluctibus urget. 335

tandem nutanti sedit sententia celsum
exorare virum, coUectisque omnibus una
principibus coram supplex sic talibus infit :
' orbis, Avite, salus, cui non nova gloria nunc est
quod rogat Aetius, voluisti, et non nocet hostis ; 340
vis : prodest. inclusa tenes tot milia nutu,
et populis Geticis sola est tua gratia limes ;
infensi semper nobis pacem tibi praestant.
victrices, i, prome aquilas ; fac, op time, Chunos,

336. nutanti M : cunctanti.

1 The incursion of Attila and his hordes gathered from many
nations, a.d. 451. The support of the Visigoths was vital to
the Romans. Avitus certainly made a good ambassador,
but the probability is that Theodoric acted largely from self-
interest, already detecting Attila's intention to push his con-
quests beyond the Loire.

2 The Bellonoti (Balloniti, or perhaps BaUonoti, in Val.
Flacc. VI. 161) were a Sarmatian people. For the other
peoples here mentioned, see Hodgkin II. 106 If.

146

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

barian world, rent by a mighty upheaval, poured the
whole north into Gaul.^ After the warlike Rugian
comes the fierce Gepid, with the Gelonian close by ;
the Burgundian urges on the Scirian ; forward rush the
Hun, the Bellonotian,^ the Neurian, the Bastarnian,
the Thuringian, the Bructeran, and the Frank, he
whose land is washed by the sedgy waters of Nicer.^
Straightway falls the Hercynian forest, hewn to make
boats, and overlays the Rhine with a network of its
timber ; and now Attila with his fearsome squadrons
has spread himself in raids upon the plains of the
Belgian. Aetius had scarce left the Alps, leading
a thin, meagre force of auxiliaries without legion-
aries, vainly with ill-starred confidence expecting
that the Gothic host would join his camp. But
tidings came that struck the leader with dismay ;
in their own land were the Goths awaiting the Huns,
a foe they now almost despised. Perplexed, he
turned over every plan, and his mind was beset with
surging cares. At length in his wavering heart was
formed the fixed resolve to make appeal to a man of
high estate ; and before an assemblage of all the
nobles he thus began to plead : ' Avitus, saviour of
the world, to whom it is no new glory to be besought
by Aetius, thou didst wish it, and the enemy no
longer does harm ; * thou wishest it, and he does
good. All those thousands thou dost keep within
bounds by thy nod ; thine influence alone is a barrier-
wall to the Gothic peoples ; ever hostile to us, they
grant peace to thee. Go, display the victorious
eagles ; ^ bring it to pass, O noble hero, that the Huns,

» The Neckar.

* See w. 30&-311.

' i.e. in order that the Gothic soldiers may rally to them.

147

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quorum forte prior fuga nos concusserat olim, 345
bis victos prodesse mihi.' sic fatur, et ille
pollicitus votum fecit spem. protinus inde
avolat et famulas in proelia concitat iras.
ibant pellitae post classica Romula turmae,
ad nomen currente Geta ; timet aere vocari 350

dirutus, opprobrium, non damnum barbarus horrens.
hos ad bella trahit iam tum spes orbis Avitus,
vel iam privatus vel adhuc. sic cinnama busto
collis Erythraei portans Phoebeius ales
concitat omne avium vulgus ; famulantia currunt 355
agmina, et angustus pennas non explicat aer.
" Iam prope fata tui bis senas vulturis alas
complebant (scis namque tuos, scis, Roma, labores) :
Aetium Placidus mactavit semivir amens ;
vixque tuo impositum capiti diadema, Petroni : 360
ilico barbaries, nee non sibi capta videri
Roma Getis tellusque suo cessura furori ;
raptores ceu forte lupi, quis nare sagaci
monstrat odor pinguem clausis ab ovilibus auram,
irritant acuuntque famem portantque rapinae 365

^ i.e. by serving in the Roman ranks : cf. prodest, v. 341.
The meaning is that the Huns serving under Litorius had by
their flight before the Goths caused a Roman disaster (a.d.
339) : now a second defeat of the Huns will put them once more
at the service of Rome.

2 Aere diruius (Cjc. Verr. II. 5. 33, etc.) was applied to a
soldier whose pay was stopped as a punishment.

^ A play on the two meanings of privatus : Avitus was
now privatus ("out of office"; his Prefectship was over)
or still privatus {i.e. a subject : he was soon to become
Emperor). For the latter meaning of privatum cf. v. 593
below.

* See nn. on 2. 417 and (for Eryth.) 2. 447.
^ See V. 55 n.

* See 5. 305 sqq. n. Placidus was one of the names of

148

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

whose flight aforetime shook us, shall by a second
defeat be made to do me service.' ^ Thus he spake,
and Avitus consenting changed his prayer into hope.
Straightway he flies thence and rouses up the
Gothic fury that was his willing slave. Rushing to
enroll their names, the skin-clad warriors began to
march behind the Roman trumpets ; those barbarians
feared the name of ' pay-docked soldiers,' ^ dreading
the disgrace, not the loss. These men Avitus swept
off to war, Avitus even thus early the world's hope,
though now (or still) a plain citizen.^ Even so the
bird of Phoebus, when bearing the cinnamon to
his pyre on the Er)rthraean hill,* rouses all the
conunon multitude of birds ; the obedient throng
hies to him, and the air is too narrow to give their
wings free play.

" Now destiny was well-nigh bringing to fulfil-
ment the sign of the twelve flying vultures ^ (Thou
knowest, O Rome, thou knowest all thy troubles).
Placidus,^ the mad eunuch, slaughtered Aetius.
Scarce w^as the diadem set on the head of Petronius
when all at once came a barbarian flood, and the
Goths had visions of Rome captured by them and of
the whole earth ready to surrender to their frenzy ;
as ravening wolves, whose keen scent has caught a
whiff of fatlings wafted from a fenced sheepcote,
goad and sharpen their hunger, and carry in their

Valentinian III. That feeble emperor is perhaps intentionally
described in terms strictly applicable to the chamberlain
Heraclius, who helped him in the assassination of Aetius. It
was Petronius Maximus who appointed Avitus to the military
command of Gaul, dignifying that office, apparently for the
first time, with the title magisler peditum equitumque (or
mag. tUriusque militiae ; see v. 377 and n. on 5. 553). Another
view is that Avitus was made mag. mil. praesentalis.

149

VOL. I. H

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

in vultu speciem, patulo ieiunia rictu
fallentes ; iam iamque tener spe frangitur agnus
atque absens avido crepitat iam praeda palato.
quin et Aremoricus piratam Saxona tractus
sperabat, cui pelle salum sulcare Britannum 370

ludus et assuto glaucum mare findere lembo.
Francus Germanum primum Belgamque secundum
sternebat, Rhenumque, ferox Alamanne, bibebas
Romani ripis et utroque superbus in agro
vel civis vel victor eras, sed perdita cernens 375
terrarum spatia princeps iam Maximus, unum
quod fuit in rebus, peditumque equitumque magis-

trum
te sibi, Avite, legit, collati rumor honoris
invenit agricolam, flexi dum forte ligonis
exercet dentes vel pando pronus aratro 380

vertit inexcoctam per pinguia iugera glaebam.
sic quondam ad patriae res fractas pauper arator,
Cincinnate, venis veterem cum te induit uxor
ante boves trabeam dictatoremque salignae
excepere fores atque ad sua tecta ferentem 385

quod non persevit, turpique e fasce gravata
vile triumphalis portavit purpura semen.

" Vt primum ingesti pondus suscepit honoris,
legas qui veniam poscant, Alamanne, furori,
Saxonis incursus cessat, Chattumque palustri 390
alligat Albis aqua ; vixque hoc ter menstrua totum

* ».c. the inhabitants of Germania Prima (capital Mogunt-
iacum, Mainz) and Belgica Secunda (capital Durocortorum
Remorum, Rheims).

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

eyes a vision of their spoil, beguiling their famish-
ment with jaws opened wide ; every moment their
expectant hope sees a young lamb mangled, and the
prey beyond their reach is already crunched in their
greedy mouths. The Aremorican region too ex-
pected the Saxon pirate, who deems it but sport
to furi'ow the British waters with hides, cleaving
the blue sea in a stitched boat. The Frank began
to lay low the First German and the Second
Belgian ^ ; the bold Alaman was drinking the Rhine
from the Roman bank and proudly lording it on both
sides, a citizen ^ or a conqueror. But Maximus,
now emperor, seeing such loss of widespread lands,
took the sole availing course in such distress and
chose for himself Avitus as Master of Horse and
Foot. The tidings of the rank bestowed found him
farming, plying the bent mattock's tooth or stooping
over the curved plough as he turned up the unsunned
clods in his fertile acres. Thus aforetime Cincin-
natus came, a poor ploughman, to heal his country's
broken fortunes, when his wife put the old robe upon
him, standing before the oxen, and his doors of
willow-wood now opened for a dictator, who bore
back to his dwelling what he had not sowed, and
thus the triumphal purple, weighted with a mean
load, carried common seed.

" No sooner had he taken up the burden of the
office thrust upon him than the Alaman sent envoys
to crave pardon for their frenzy, the Saxon's raiding
abated and the marshy water of Albis confined the
Chattian; and scarce had the moon viewed all this

* i.e. an Alamannian tribesman, a member of the Alaman-
nian community on the right bank of the Rhine ; on the other
bank he is an alien invader. Civis does not here mean
"Roman citizen."

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

lima videt, iamqiie ad populos ac rura feroci

tenta Getae pertendit iter, qua pulsus ab aestu

Oceanus refluum spargit per culta Garunnam ;

in flumen currente mari transcendit amarus 395

blanda fluenta latex, fluviique impacta per alveum

salsa peregrinum sibi navigat unda profundum.

hie iam disposito laxantes frena duello

Vesorum proceres raptim suspendit ab ira

rumor, succinctum referens diplomate Avitum 400

iam Geticas intrare domos positaque parumper

mole magisterii legati iura subisse.

" Obstupuere duces pariter Scythicusque senatus
et timuere, suam pacem ne forte negaret.
sic rutilus Phaetonta levem cum carperet axis 405
iam pallente die flagrantique excita mundo
pax elementorum fureret vel sicca propinquus
saeviret per stagna vapor limusque sitiret
pulvereo ponti fundo, tunc unica Phoebi
insuetum clemens exstinxit flamma calorem. 410

" Hie aliquis turn forte Getes, dum falce recocta
ictibus informat saxoque cacuminat ensem,
iam promptus caluisse tubis, iam iamque frequent!
caede sepulturus terram non hoste sepulto,
claruit ut primum nomen venientis Aviti, 415

exclamat : * periit bellum, date rursus aratra.
400. succinctum ego : succinct©.

^ Sidonius likes to dwell on the tidal bores of the Garonne :
cf. 22. 18 sq.; ib. 105 sqq. ; Epist. VIII. 12. 5.

2 Scyth., i.e. Gothic (5. 219 n.).

' The lightness of Phaethon helped to throw the chariot-
horses into confusion : Ovid, Met. II. 161 sq.

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

throughout three monthly courses, when he set
hiniseif on the march to the peoples and lands pos-
sessed by the bold Goth, where the ocean driven
onwards by the tide spreads the retreating Garonne
over the fields — for as the sea invades the river the
salt water climbs over the sweet flow, and the briny
flood, driven along the river-bed, rides on deeps that
are strange to it.^ Here the chiefs of the Visigoths
were letting loose the war they had planned, when
suddenly their fury was checked by tidings that
Avitus, armed with an imperial writ, was already
entering the home of the Goths and, having laid
aside for a little the pomp of the Master's office, had
taken upon himself the authority of an ambassador.

" The Scythian ^ leaders and senate alike were
thunderstruck, and feared lest he should deny their
peaceful intent. Even thus, when the flaming
chariot was pulling the light ^ Phaethon this way and
that and the daylight was already dim, when the
harmony of the elements was stirred to fury by a
blazing world, when the hot breath came close and
ranged madly over the drying pools, and the parched
mud thirsted on the dusty bottom of the sea, then
Phoebus' gentle fire alone quenched that unwonted
heat.

" Hereupon, as it chanced, one of the Goths, who
had re-forged his pruning-hook and was shaping a
sword with blows on the anvil and sharpening it
with a stone, a man already prepared to rouse him-
self to fury at the sound of the trumpet and looking
at any moment with manifold slaughter to bury the
ground under unburied foes, cried out, as soon as the
name of the approaching Avitus was clearly pro-
claimed : * War is no more ! Give me the plough

153

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

otia si replico priscae bene nota quietis,

non semel istc mihi ferrum tulit. o pudor ! o di !

tantum posse fidem ! quid foedera lenta minaris,

in damnum mihi fide meum ? compendia pacis 420

et praestare iubes nos et debere. quis umquam

crederet? en Getici reges, parere volentes,

inferius regnasse putant ! nee dicere saltim

desidiae obtentu possum te proelia nolle :

pacem fortis amas. iam partes sternit Avitus ; 425

insuper et Geticas praemissus continet iras

Messianus ; adhue mandasti, et ponimus arma.

quid restat quod posse velis ? quod non sumus hostes

parva reor ; prisco tu si mihi notus in actu es,

auxiliaris ero : vel sic pugnare licebit.' 430

" Haec secum rigido Vesus dum corde volutat,
ventum in conspectum fuerat. rex atque magister
propter constiterant ; hie vultu erectus, at ille
laetitia erubuit veniamque rubore poposcit.
post hinc germano regis, hinc rege retento 435

Palladiam implicitis manibus subiere Tolosam.
haud secus insertis ad pulvinaria palmis
Romulus et Tatius foedus iecere, parentum
cum ferro et rabidis cognato in Marte maritis
Hersiha inseruit Pallantis colle Sabinas. 440

^ Messianus was one of Avitus's trusted officers, who after-
wards went with him to Rome and received the title of
patrician. He accompanied his master in his flight and was
killed at Placentia, a.d. 456.

* The king is Theodoric II, the brother Friedrich (Frideri-
cus). These two had in a.d. 453 murdered their brother
Thorismund, who had succeeded Theodoric I. There is an
interesting description of Theodoric II in Epist I. 2.

^ Pallwdiam. An epithet aheady appHed by Martial and
Ausonius to Toulouse as a home of the Uberal arts.

154

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

again ! If I recall the familiar old days of idle peace,
he hath time and again taken the sword from me.
O shame ! O ye gods above ! To think that faithful
friendship should have such power ! Why dost thou
threaten me with tedious treaties, dealing loyally
with me to my loss ? Thou dost bid us both give to
thee and owe to thee the advantages of peace. Who
could have believed it ? Lo ! the Gothic kings are
fain to yield obedience, and deem their royal power
of less account than that. Nor can I even say that
thou dost shun battle to screen a craven spirit ;
brave art thou, albeit thou lovest peace. Avitus
is already ending the strife of parties, and Mes-
sianus ^ too, sent on before, is curbing the Gothic
wrath. Thou hast as yet but sent thine orders,
Avitus, and we are laying down our arms. What
further power canst thou desire ? I count it a small
thing that we are not thine enemies ; nay, if I have
gained a right knowledge of thee in action aforetime,
thine auxiHary will I be; thus at least I shall have
leave to fight.'

** While the Visigoth revolved these thoughts in
his stern heart they had come into view. The king
and the Master took their stand near together, the
Master with confident look, while the other blushed
with joy and by his blush sued for clemency. Then
Avitus kept on one side of him the king ,2 on the other
side the king's brother, and with joined hands they
entered Tolosa, city of Pallas.^ Even thus with
hand clasped in hand beside the couches of the gods
did Romulus and Tatius establish their treaty, when
Hersilia on the hill of Pallas thrust the Sabine women
between their father's weapons and the husbands
who were furiously battling against their kindred.

IS5

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

" Interea incautam furtivis Vandalus armis
te capit, infidoque tibi Burgundio ductu
extorquet trepidas mactandi principis iras.
heu facinus ! in bella iterum quartosque labores
perfida Elisseae crudescunt classica Byrsae. 445

nutristis quod, fata, malum ? conscenderat arces
Euandri Massyla phalanx montesque Quirini
Marmarici pressere pedes rursusque revexit
quae captiva dedit quondam stipendia Barce.
exsilium patrum, plebis mala, principe caeso 450
captivum imperium ad Geticas rumor tulit aures.
luce nova veterum coetus de more Getarum
contrahitur ; stat prisca annis viridisque senectus
consiliis ; squalent vestes ac sordida macro
lintea pinguescunt tergo, nee tangere possunt 455
altatae suram pelles, ac poplite nudo
peronem pauper nodus suspendit equinum.

" Postquam in consilium seniorum venit honora
pauperies pacisque simul rex verba poposcit,
dux ait : ' optassem patriis securus in arvis 460

emeritam, fateor, semper fovisse quietem,
ex quo militiae post munia trina superbum

* It must not be forgotten that Jupiter is still addressing
Rome.

* Accounts of the murder of Petronius Maximus differ a
great deal, and we have no means of knowing what Sidonius
means by Burgundio.

3 2. 351 n.

* Avitus had gone to Toulouse to negotiate on behalf of
Petronius Maximus. These negotiations were apparently
not completed when news of the Emperor's death on May 31
arrived. Theodoric formed the plan of making Avitus Em-
peror and summoned his coimcil. Avitus is represented as
appearing before the council in ignorance of the scheme on

156

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

" Meanwhile, when thou ^ wert off thy guard, the
Vandal with stealthy arms captured thee, and the
Burgundian with his traitorous leadership extorted
from thee the panic-fury that led to an emperor's
slaughter. 2 Alas for the deed ! Once more for war
and for a fourth season of trouble the faithless war-
trumpets of Dido's Byrsa ^ blare forth. O Destiny,
what ill hast thou been fostering ? A Massylian
band had climbed Evander's height, Marmarican
feet trampled Quirinus' hills, and Barce carried
back the tribute that once she paid in her days of
captivity. Rumour brought to Gothic ears the exile
of the senate, the ills of the common folk, the
Emperor's murder and the captivity of the Empire.
At dawn of day a meeting of Gothic elders was
assembled in the wonted fashion * ; there stand they,
old in years but hale in counsel ; their dress is
unkempt, tarnished and greasy are the linen garments
on their lean backs ; their coats of skin are drawn
up high and cannot reach the calf; their knees are
bare and their boots of horse-hide are held up by a
common knot.

" When this company of elders, venerable for all
their poverty, entered the council, and the king
called for the proposals of peace, the general said :
* I confess that I would fain have cherished evermore
in tranquillity among my paternal acres the rest that
my toil has earned, now that after holding three com-
mands ^ I have reached a fourth glory and held the

foot and merely making a strong plea for peace between the
two nations.

^ By militiae munia Sidonius certainly means military com-
mands, not posts in the civil service. We learn from v. 315
that Avitus had held no civil office before he became praefectua
praetorio.

a57

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

praefecturae apicem quarto iam culmine rexi.

sed dum me nostri princeps modo Maximus orbis

ignarum, absentem procerum per mille repulsas 465

ad lituos post iura vocat voluitque sonoris

praeconem mutare tubis, promptissimus istud

arripui officium, vos quo legatus adirem.

foedera prisca precor, quae nunc meus ille teneret,

iussissem si forte, senex cui semper Avitum 470

sectari crevisse fuit. tractare solebam

res Geticas olim ; scis te nescisse frequenter

quae suasi nisi facta, tamen fortuna priorem

abripuit genium; periit quodcumque merebar

cum genitore tuo. Narbonem tabe solutum 475

ambierat (tu parvus eras) ; trepidantia cingens

milia in infames iam iamque coegerat escas ;

iam tristis propriae credebat defore praedae,

si clausus fortasse perit, cum nostra probavit

consilia et refugo laxavit moenia bello. 480

teque ipsum (sunt ecce senes) hoc pectore fultum

hae flentem tenuere manus, si forsitan altrix

te mihi, cum nolles, lactandum toUeret. ecce

advenio et prisci repeto modo pignus amoris.

si tibi nulla fides, nulla est reverentia patris, 485

i durus pacemque nega.'

" Prorumpit ab omni

^ Theodoric I.

* See Introd., p. xvi. The result of the siege of Narbonne
is described in 23. 59 sqq. The rehef of the town is elsewhere
attributed to Litorius. We may assume that the arrival of
Litorius (and possibly a severe engagement with his troops)
inclined Theodoric to make a temporary peace, negotiated by
Avitus. The Goths withdrew, but soon renewed hostilities,
which ended with the bloody battle of Toulouse. It is most
probable that Avitus joined the army of Litorius on its way
to Narbonne and held a high command in it.

iS8

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

supreme honour of the Prefecture. But as Maximus,
late sovereign of our western world, after a thousand
refusals from our chieftest men, summoned me, all
unsuspecting and far away, to serve amid the clarions
of war after controlling the laws, and ordained that I
should now hear the blaring trumpets instead of the
court-usher's voice, then did I right readily embrace
the duty, that I might go as ambassador to you. I
crave of you the old treaty, which even now that
aged man, my one-time friend,^ for whom to follow
Avitus was always to grow greater, would be main-
taining if only I had bidden him. In former days I
was wont to guide the doings of the Goths ; thou
knowest that my counsel was often acted on before
thou wert aware of it. But fate hath taken away
from me my guardian-spirit of former days, and all
my services have faded from sight along with thy
father. He had surrounded Narbo,^ and it was
enfeebled with wasting famine (thou wert then a
child) : hemming in those panic-stricken thousands
he had all but driven them to eat of loathsome things,
and already he had begun gloomily to think that
some of his due spoil would be lost if haply the
besieged perished within, when he gave ear to my
advice, and withdrawing his arms relieved the walls
from war. And thee thyself (See ! there are old
men to witness it), these hands of mine have held
weeping close to this breast, when perchance thy
nurse was taking thee away from me to give thee
suck and thou wert loth to go. Behold ! I come and
seek now a fresh pledge of our old love. If thou
hast no loyalty, no reverence for thy father, then go
thy harsh way and refuse peace.'

** From all the council arose murmurs and shout-

159

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

murmur concilio fremitusque, et proelia damnans
seditiosa ciet concordem turba tumultum.
turn rex effatur : * dudum, dux indite, culpo
poscere te pacem nostram, cum cogere possis 490
servitium, trahere ac populos in bella sequaces.
ne, quaeso, invidiam patrio mihi nomine inuras :
quid mereor, si nulla iubes ? suadere sub illo
quod poteras, modo velle sat est, solumque moratur,
quod cupias, nescisse Getas. mihi Romula dudum
per te iura placent, parvumque ediscere iussit 496
ad tua verba pater docili quo prisca Maronis
carmine molliret Scythicos mihi pagina mores ;
iam pacem tum velle doces. sed percipe quae sit
condicio obsequii : forsan rata pacta probabis. 500
testor, Roma, tuum nobis venerabile nomen
et socium de Marte genus (vel quidquid ab aevo,
nil te mundus habet melius, nil ipsa senatu),
me pacem servare tibi vel velle abolere
quae noster peccavit avus, quem fuscat id unum, 505
quod te, Roma, capit ; sed di si vota secundant,
excidii veteris crimen purgare valebit
ultio praesentis, si tu, dux inclite, solum

^ The following lines refer to the episode described in vv,
215-226. That passage seems to imply that the visit to
Theodorus was the first occasion on which Avitus met Theo-
doric I. The most probable date for the visit is a.d. 430 or a
little later. Vv. 233-235 do not necessarily rule out a.d. 430
(see n.). Between that year and 435, when Avitus took part
in the war against the Burgundians, the Goths seem to have
been comparatively quiet, and Avitus may have remained at
the Gothic court for a considerable time, acting as tutor to
the young prince. There is no need to assume any further
sojourn among the Goths, apart from the official missions
described in this poem. As for iw. 481-483, they are probably
an empty rhetorical flourish.

l6o

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

ing; the insurgent crowd, condemning war, raised
a friendly uproar. Then out spake the king : * O
leader renowned, I have long been blaming thee for
begging peace from us when thou hast power to
enforce bondage and draw willing peoples to war in
thy train. I beseech thee, brand me not with
obloquy by bringing up my father's name. What
blame can be mine if thou give me no orders ? What
thou mightest have advised in his day thou needst
now but desire; the only hindrance is that the
Goths have not learnt what thou wouldst have.
^ Thanks to thee the laws of Rome have long been
pleasing to me ; when I was a child my father bade
me learn lines by heart at thine instruction, that
those strains of Virgil's ancient page, taught to thy
>villing pupil, might soften my Scythian ways ; even
then thou didst teach me to desire peace. But hear
now the terms of my obedience, and perhaps thou
wilt be pleased to sanction a compact. I swear, O
Rome, by thy name, revered by me, and by our
common descent from Mars^ (for among all things
that have been since the beginning of time the world
hath naught greater than thee and thou hast naught
greater than the senate) : I desire to keep the peace
with thee and to wipe out the transgressions of my
grandsire,^ whose one blot is that he captured thee ;
but if the gods bless my prayer, the guilt of that
ancient destruction can be atoned for by avenging
that of to-day* — if only thou, renowned leader,

' Jord. Gei. 5 states that Mars is said to have dwelt for a
long time among the Goths. With this tradition he associates
Verg. Aen. III. 35, where Mars is said to be a tutelary deity of
the Getica arva.

3 Alaric, who captured Rome, a.d. 410.

* i.e. the capture by Geiseric.

i6i

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Augusti subeas nomen. quid lumina flectis ?
invitum plus esse decet. non cogimus istud, 510

sed contestamur : Romae sum te duce amicus,
principe te miles, regnum non praeripis ulli,
nee quisquam Latias Augustus possidet arces ;
qua vacat, aula tua est. tester, non sufficit istud,
ne noceam ; atque tuo hoc utinam diademate fiat, 515
ut prosim ! suadere meum est ; nam Gallia si te
compulerit, quae iure potest, tibi pareat orbis,
ne pereat.' dixit pariterque in verba petita
dat sanctam cum fratre fidem. discedis, Avite,
maestus, qui Gallos scires non posse latere 520

quod possint servire Getae te principe. namque
civibus ut patuit trepidis te foedera ferre,
occurrunt alacres ignaroque ante tribunal
sternunt ; utque satis sibimet numerosa coisse
nobilitas visa est, quam saxa nivalia Cotti 525

despectant, variis nee non quam partibus ambit
Tyrrheni Rhenique liquor, vel longa Pyrenei
quam iuga ab Hispano seclusam iure cohercent,
aggreditur nimio curarum pondere tristem
gaudens turba virum. procerum tuni' maximus
unus, 530

dignus qui patriae personam sumeret, infit :
* quam nos per varios dudum fortuna labores

521. quod Mohr : quid.
162

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

shouldst take upon thee the name of Augustus.
Why dost thou avert thine eyes ? Thine unwilHng-
ness becomes thee all the more. We do not force
this on thee, but we adjure thee : with thee as
leader I am a friend of Rome, with thee as Emperor
I am her soldier. Thou art not stealing the
sovereignty from any man ; no Augustus holds the
Latian hills, a palace without a master is thine. I
protest, it is not enough that I do thee no harm ; I
would that thine imperial diadem might bring me
the means to do thee service. My part is but to
urge thee ; but if Gaul should compel thee, as she
has the right to do, the world would cherish thy
sway, lest it perish. ' He spake, and straightway with
his brother gave his solemn pledge in the form of
words desired. But thou, Avitus, didst depart in
sadness, knowing it could not be hidden from the
Gauls that the Goths could be at their service if
thou wert Emperor. Yea, when it was revealed to
the anxious citizens that thou wert carrying back
with thee a treaty, they eagerly rushed to meet
thee, and ^vithout thy kno^ving it they spread a
tribunal for thee beforehand, and when the crowds
of nobles deemed they were assembled in sufficient
multitude — those on whom the snowy rocks of the
Cottian Alps look down, those around whom in their
sundry regions wind the waters of the Tuscan sea
or the Rhine, and those whom the long ridges of the
Pyrenees shut off from Spanish rule — then did that
throng approach wiih joy that man oppressed by a
crushing load of care. Thereupon the oldest of all those
lords, one right worthy to be his country's spokes-
man, thus began : ' Of the cruel fortune that hath
long harassed us with divers hardships under a boy-

163

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

principe sub puero laceris terat aspera rebus,

fors longum, dux magne, queri, cum quippe dolentum

maxima pars fueris, patriae dum vulnera higens 535

sollieitudinibus vehementibus exagitaris.

has nobis inter clades ac funera mundi

mors vixisse fuit. sed dum per verba parentum

ignavas colimus leges sanctumque putamus

rem veterem per damna sequi, porta vimus um-

bram 540

imperii, generis contenti ferre vetusti
et vitia ac solitam vestiri murice gentem
more magis quam iure pati. promptissima nuper
fulsit condicio proprias qua Gallia vires
exsereret, trepidam dum Maximus occupat ur-

bem ; 545

orbem sat potuit, si te sibi tota magistro
regna reformasset. quis nostrum 13elgica rura,
litus Aremorici, Geticas quis moverit iras,
non latet : his tantis tibi cessimus, indite, bellis.
nunc iam summa vocant ; dubio sub tempore reg-

num 550

non regit ignavus. postponitur ambitus omnis
ultima cum claros quaerunt : post damna Ticini
ac Trebiae trepidans raptim respublica venit
ad Fabium ; Cannas celebres Varrone fugato
Scipiadumque etiam turgentem funere Poenum 555
Livius electus fregit. captivus, ut aiunt,
orbis in urbe iacet ; princeps perit, hie caput omne
nunc habet imperium. petimus, conscende tribunal,

546. orbem sat potuit Leo : orbem ego sat potui MC^ orbem
immo potuit TF.

^ Referring to Valentinian III.

* This refers to Avitus's organisation of resistance to
Attila; see w. 316-356.
164

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

emperor,^ tearing our prosperity to shreds, it would
belike be tedious to make plaint, O mighty leader,
since verily thou wert the chiefest figure among the
mourners, lamenting ever thy country's wounds and
tortured by uncontrollable anxieties. Amid those
calamities, that universal destruction, to live was
death. But as we, taught by our fathers' words,
paid homage to idle laws and deemed it a hallowed
duty to cling to the old order even through disasters,
we endured that shadow of Empire, content to bear
even the vices of an ancient stock and to tolerate,
more from custom than by reason of just claim, a
house that had been wont to be invested with the
purple. Of late a golden opportunity shone forth,
whereby Gaul might make her oAvn strength felt,
while Maximus was possessing himself of the panic-
stricken capital ; and she might well have possessed
herself of the world if with thee as Master she had
restored to herself all her rightful lands. 'Tis no
secret who of us it was that stirred up the Belgian
land, the Aremorican shore and the Gothic fury.^
In this dread warfare we yielded pride of place to
thee, renowned one. Now the supreme office calls
for thee ; in time of peril a realm cannot be ruled
by a poltroon. All ambitious rivalry gives place
when extremity calls for men of renown. After the
losses of Ticinum and Trebia the trembling republic
came in haste to Fabius. By the election of Livius
the disaster of Cannae, famous for Varro's rout, was
undone ; undone too was the Carthaginian, still
exulting over the deaths of the Scipios. The world,
they say , lies captive in the captive city ; the Emperor
has perished, and now the Empire has its head here.
Ascend the tribunal, we beseech thee, and raise up

i6S

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

erige collapses ; non hoc modo tempora poscunt,

ut Romam plus alter amet. nee forte reare 560

te regno non esse parem : cum Brennica signa

Tarpeium premerent, scis, turn respublica nostra

tota Camillus erat, patriae qui debitus ultor

texit fumantes hostili strage favillas,

non tibi centurias aurum populare paravit, 565

nee modo venales numerosoque asse redemptae

concurrunt ad puncta tribus ; suffragia mundi

nullus emit, pauper legeris ; quod sufficit unum,

es meritis dives, patriae cur vota moraris,

quae iubet ut iubeas ? haec est sententia cunctis : 570

si dominus fis, liber ero.'

" Fragor atria complet
V^ierni, quo forte loco pia turba senatus
detulerat vim, vota, preces. locus, hora diesque
dicitur imperio felix, ac protinus illic
nobilium excubias gaudens soUertia mandat. 575

" Tertia lux refugis Hyperiona fuderat astris :
concurrunt proceres ac milite circumfuso
aggere composite statuunt ac torque coronant
castrensi maestum donantque insignia regni ;
nam prius induerat solas de principe curas. 580

baud alio quondam vultu Tirynthius heros

572. iiierni M, Ugerni Sirmond. : t(h)iemi.
580. nam Mokr : iam.

^ Viemum, or Ugemum, modern Beaucaire, near Aries. The
meeting here referred to was a hastily summoned assembly
of Gallic notabilities, not the representative assembly of Gaul
(on which see Introd. p. xii, Bury I. pp. 207 sq.), which met at
Aries.

i66

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

the fainting ; this time of peril asks not that some
other should love Rome more. Nor do thou by
any chance deem thyself unequal to sovereignty.
When Brennus' host beset the Tarpeian rock, then,
thou knowest, Camillus was himself the whole of our
state, and he, the destined avenger of his country,
covered the smoking embers of the city with the
slaughtered enemy. No gold scattered among the
people hath secured for thee the verdict of the
centuries; this time no venal tribes bought with
plenteous coin rush to give their votes ; the suffrages
of the world no one can buy. Though a poor man,
thou art being chosen; rich art thou in thy deserts,
and that suffices in itself. Why dost thou hinder the
desires of thy country, when she orders thee to give
orders to her? This is the judgment of all: " if
thou becomest the master I shall be free." '

" Then a great clamour filled the hall of Viernum ^
(for it was in this place, as it chanced, that the senate's
devoted throng had brought before him the force
of its authority, its desires, and its prayers). Place,
hour, and day are declared auspicious for the assump-
tion of empire, and straightway those resourceful
nobles joyously order a guard to be set there.

" The third day had spread the sun's light over the
retreating stars : the lords of the land assemble in
haste and with soldiers all around set him on a mound-
platform 2 ; there they crown their sorrowing chief
with a military collar and present him with the
outward emblems of sovereignty (hitherto the only
attribute of an Emperor he had assumed was his
cares). With such a look did the Tirynthian hero

' The next stage was the proclamation of the Emperor by
the soldiers.

167

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

pondera suscepit caeli simul atque novercae
cum Libyca se rupe Gigas subduceret et cum
tutior Herculeo sedisset machina dorso.

" Hunc tibi, Roma, dedi, patulis dum Gallia

campis 585

intonat Augustum plausu faustumque fragorem
portat in exsanguem Boreas iam fortior Austrum.
hie tibi restituet Libyen per vincula quarta,
et cuius solum amissas post saeeula multa
Pannonias revocavit iter, iam credere promptum

est 590

quid faciat bellis. o quas tibi saepe iugabit
inflictis gentes aquilis, qui maxima regni
omina privatus fugit, cum forte vianti
excuteret praepes plebeium motus amictum!
laetior at tanto modo principe, prisca deorum 595
Roma parens, attolle genas ac turpe veternum
depone : en princeps faciet iuvenescere maior,
quam pueri fecere senem."

Finem pater ore
vlx dederat : plausere dei fremitusque cucurrit

^ Juno. Her jealous hatred dogged Hercules from his
birth, and was the prime cause of his ' ' labours." It was while
engaged on one of these (the quest of the golden apples)
that he temporarily took the burden of the heavens from the
shoulders of Atlas (the " giant " of this passage).

2 i.e. the Vandals, now pale with fright.

^ A very mysterious allusion. Avitus was proclaimed
Emperor in July and reached Rome in September, a.d. 455.
There is no reason to believe that he took a long time over his
journey ; the statement sometimes made that he left Gaul in
July has neither common sense nor ancient authority to support
it. It is scarcely credible that he turned aside at this time to
make a demonstration against the " barbarians " in Pannonia.
He may have sent a force under one of his generals ; it was

l68

VII. PANEGYRIC ON AVITUS

of old take upon him the burden alike of the sky
and of his stepmother^ when the giant withdrew
himself from the Libyan mount and the firmament
had sunk with greater safety upon the back of
Hercules.

** This man I have given thee, Rome, while Gaul
throughout her wide plains thunders with plaudits
for Augustus, and the north, now stronger, carries
the auspicious clamour to the pale-cheeked south. ^
He shall restore Libya to thee a fourth time in chains
— and when a man has recovered the lost Pannonias
after so many generations by a mere march ,3 'tis
easy to feel sure even now of what he can do by
waging war. How he shall, time and again, bring
nations under thy yoke, dashing his eagles against
them! — that man who as a subject shrank from the
glorious omens of sovereignty, when it chanced that as
he journeyed a startled bird struck from his shoulders
the common cloak he wore. But now be of good
cheer with such a man for Emperor, O Rome, ancient
mother of gods ; lift up thine eyes and cast off thine
unseemly gloom. Lo ! a prince of riper years shall
bring back youth to thee, whom child-princes have
made old."

The great Father had scarce ended his utterance
when the gods clapped their hands and a shout of

quite in order to give the Emperor credit for a military success
won under his auspices. If Avitus did not lead the expedition
it may have taken place even after his arrival in Rome. It is,
however, probable that iter means the journey of Avitus from
Gaul to Rome, and that in the course of it there came some good
news or friendly overtures from Pannonia, which Sidonius
attributes to the prestige of the new Emperor and the fear
produced by his journey southward. The contrast of iter with
bellis seems to imply that there was no fighting on this occasion.

169

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

concilio. felix tempus nevere sorores 600

imperiis, Auguste, tuis et consulis anno
fulva volubilibus duxerunt saecula pensis.

VIII

AD PRISCVM VALERIANVM VIRVM
PRAEFECTORIVM

Prisce, decus semper nostrum, cui principe Avito

cognatum sociat purpura celsa genus,
ad tua cum nostrae currant examina nugae,

dico : " state, vagae ; quo properatis ? amat.
destrictus semper censor, qui diligit, exstat ; 5

dura fronte legit mollis amicitia.
nil totura prodest adiectum laudibus illud

Vlpia quod rutilat porticus acre meo
vel quod adhuc populo simul et plaudente senatu

ad nostrum reboat concava Roma sophos." 10

respondent illae : " properabimus, ibimus, et nos

non retines : tanto iudice culpa placet,
cognitor hoc nullus melior ; bene carmina pensat

contemptu tardo, iudicio celeri."
et quia non potui temeraria sistere verba, 15

hoc rogo, ne dubites lecta dicare rogo.

^ Almost the only information which we have about Priscus
Valerianus is derived from this poem and from Epist. V. 10.
The superscription of the poem shows that Valerianus had
risen to be Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, but does not, as some
authorities suppose, state that he held that office at the time
when the verfses were written,

2 For the statue of Sidonius in Trajan's Forum see Introd.,
p. xxxvii.

170

VIII. TO PRISCUS VALERIANUS

applause rang through the council. The fateful
Sisters spun out a happy time for thy rule, Augustus,
and for thy consular year they drew out with their
whirling spindles a golden age.

VIII

TO PRISCUS VALERIANUS, OF
PREFECTORIAN RANK i

Priscus, my unceasing pride, whose race is by
right of kinship linked with the majestic purple,
now that Avitus is Emperor : as my trifling effusions
are hurrying off to encounter your judgment, I say,
" Halt, flighty creatures ! Whither are you hastening ?
He loves me, and he who loves ever shows himself an
unsparing judge ; gentle friendship reads with harsh
brow. It boots me not that there is added to the tale
of my merits all the glory of my form in bronze ^
gleaming red in the Ulpian portico and the huzzas
for me that still re-echo from the recesses of Rome's
hills,^ while senate and people alike sound my
praises." Then they reply: "We nill hasten, we
will go, and you shall not hold us back. With such
a man to judge us even censure is sweet. There is
no better critic than he ; skilfully does he weigh
poems, and though quick of judgment he is slow to
scorn." And so, as I could not keep my reckless
verses from going, hesitate not, when you have read
them, to let the fire prey on them, I pray you.

' Concava Roma is a bold expression, in which concava is
even more difficult to translate than it is in Verg. Georg.
IV. 49 (also referring to echoes), concava pulsu saxa sonant.
The circle of Rome's hills suggests the idea of a building with
concave walls, from which echoes are flung back.

171

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

IX

AD FELICEM

Largam Sollivs hanc Apollinaris
felici domino pioqve fratri
digit sidonivs svvs salvtem.

Die, die quod peto, Magne, die, amabo,
Felix nomine, mente, honore, forma, 5

natis, coniuge, fratribus, parente,
germanis genitoris atqiie matris
et summo patruelium Camillo :
quid nugas temerarias amici,

sparsit quas tenerae ioeus iuventae, 10

in formam redigi iubes libelli,
ingentem simul et repente fascem
conflari invidiae et perire chartam ?
mandatis famulor, sed ante testor,
lector quas patieris hie salebras. 15

Non nos currimus aggerem vetustum
nee quicquam invenies ubi priorum
antiquas terat orbitas Thalia,
non hie antipodas salumque rubrum,
non hie Memnonios eanemus Indos 20

Aurorae face civica perustos ;
non Artaxata, Susa, Bactra, Carrhas,
non coctam Babylona personabo,

^ Magnus Felix, son of Magnus (23. 455 n.), was a school-
fellow of Sidonius {v. 330, below). He rose 'to be Praetorian
Prefect of Gaul and Patrician. He lived in Narbonne. Epist.
II. 3, III. 4 and 7, IV. 5 and 10 are addressed to him. See
also Carm. 24. 91 and, for his connexion with Philagrius, n.
on 7. 156.

2 The wife's name was Attica. An extant epigram records
that she built a church.
172

IX. TO FELIX

IX

TO FELIX

To THE Lord Felix,

His Loving Brother,

SoLLius Apollinaris Sidonius

Hereby Gives Heartiest Greeting.

Come tell me, tell me what I want to know, tell
me, Magnus,^ please, Magnus Felix, felicitous in
your name, in your intellect, in your eminence, your
person, your children, wife ,2 brothers ,3 parents, your
father's and mother's brothers,* and that chief est
of all cousins, Camillus ^ — why do you demand that
the thoughtless scribblings of your friend, broadcast
in the frolicsome spirit of early youth, should be put
into book-form, and thus a great bundle of enmity
should suddenly be produced and paper wasted at
the same time? I bow to your commands, but
first I declare to you what jolts you are going to suffer
here as you read.

I am not speeding over the old road; you shall
find here no place where my muse treads in the
antique ruts of my predecessors. I shall not here
sing of Antipodes or Red Sea or Memnon's Indians
burnt by Aurora's torch blazing in her homeland.
I shall not trumpet forth Artaxata, Susa, Bactra,
Carrhae or brick-built Babylon, which opens out

' Probus (24. 94 n.) was a brother of Felix. Araneola, for
whose marriage Sidonius wrote Carm. 14 and 15, may have
been a sister. Fratres may mean " brother and sister."

* One of the brothers of Magnus was the father of Camillus.
He was a proconsul before a.d. 461 {Epist. I. 11. 10).

5 Camillus, as we learn from Epist. I. 11. 10 sq., held two
high offices of state and received the title of inlustris.

173

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quae largum fluvio patens alumno

inclusum bibit hinc et inde Tigrim. 25

non hie Assyriis Ninum priorem,

non Medis caput Arbacen profabor,

nee quam divite, cum refugit hostem,

arsit Sardanapallus in favilla.

non Cyrum Astyagis loquar nepotem, 30

nutritum ubere quern ferunt canino,

cuius non valuit rapacitatem

vel Lydi satiare gaza Croesi ;

cuius nee feritas subaeta tunc est,

caesis milibus ante cum ducentis 35

in vallis Scythicae coactus artum

orbatae ad Tomyris veniret utrem.

Non hie Cecropios leges triumphos,
vel si quo Marathon rubet duello,
aut, cum milia mille concitaret, 40

inflatum numerositate Xerxen,
atque hunc fluminibus satis profundis
confestim ebibitis adhuc sitisse ;
nee non Thermopylas et Helles undas
spretis obicibus soli salique 45

insanis equitasse cum catervis
admissoque in Athon tumente ponto
iuxta frondiferae cacumen Alpis
scalptas classibus isse per cavernas.

Non prolem Garamantici Tonantis, 50

regnis principibusque principantem,
porrectas Asiae loquar paterno
actum fulmine pervolasse terras

44. Helles Luc. Mtidler : hel(l)is.

1 " Tigris " should be " Euphrates."

2 Cyrus had slain the son of Tomyris, queen of the Massage-

174

IX. TO FELIX

afar to receive the stream that nourishes it and so
drinks the Tigris ^ on both banks within the walls.
I shall not here proclaim the earlier Ninus of the
Assyrians nor Arbaces, head of the Medes, nor the
richness of the pyre on which Sardanapallus burned
when he sought refuge from the foe. I shall not tell
of Asty ages' grandson, Cyrus, who they say was
suckled at a bitch's breast, a man whose greed not
even the treasure of Lydian Croesus could sate,
whose fierceness was not subdued even when, having
slain two hundred thousand, he was hemmed within
a narrow Scythian valley and drew nigh to the bag
of the bereaved Tomyris.^

You shall not read here of Athenian triumphs or
of any war that may have dyed Marathon red, or
how Xerxes, stirring up a thousand thousand men, was
puffed up by their multitudinousness, or how, when
rivers of great depth had been drunk up in a trice,
he still thirsted, or the tale of Thermopylae, or how,
scorning the barriers of land and sea, he rode with his
mad hordes over the waters that Helle named ^ and,
letting into Athos waves that rose well-nigh to the
summit of that leafy Alp, he passed on shipboard
through the deep channel he had cut.

I shall not relate how the offspring of the Gara-
niantian Thunder-god,* lording it over lords and
kingdoms, was sped on by his father's thunderbolt
and swept through Asia's widespread lands ; how

tae. Soon afterwards she enticed the Persians into a narrow
pass, and slew Cyrus and all his men. She ordered his head to
he cut ofif and thrown into a bag filled with blood, thus reviling
his cruelty : " Sate yourself with the blood for which you
thirsted insatiably."

' The Hellespont.

* Alexander the Great : see 2. 121-120.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

et primum Darii tumultuantes

praefectos satrapasque perculisse, 55

mox ipsum solio patrum superbum

cognatosque sibi deos crepantem

captis coniuge, liberis, parente

in casus hominis redire iussum ;

qui cum maxima bella concitasset 60

tota et Persidis undique gregatae

uno constituisset arma campo,

hoc solum perhibetur assecutus,

dormire ut melius liberet hosti.

Non vectos Minyas loquente silva 65

dicam Phasiaco stetisse portu,
forma percita cum ducis Pelasgi
molliret rabidos virago tauros,
nee tum territa, cum suus colonus
post anguis domiti satos molares 70

armatas tremebundus inter herbas
florere in segetem stuperet hostem
et pugnantibus hinc et hinc aristis
supra belliferas madere glaebas
culmosos viridi cruore fratres. 75

Non hie terrigenam loquar cohortem
admixto mage vividam veneno,
cui praeter speciem modo carentem
angues corporibus voluminosis

alte squamea crura porrigentes 80

in vestigia fauce desinebant.

65. vescos (vescas F) codd.

^ The "plain" is that of Gaugamela, where Alexander
routed Darius and overthrew the Persian Empire (331 B.C.,
the so-called Battle of Arbela). On the day appointed for
the battle Alexander slept until an alarmingly late hour.
When Parmenio with difficulty awoke him and asked how he

176

IX. TO FELIX

he first laid low in confusion the governors and
satraps of Darius and then the king himself, a
monarch that proudly exulted in the throne of his
father and prated of his kin the gods, but now,
with wife, children and mother captured, was forced
to relapse into a mere mortal's lot, and who, 'tis
said, when he had stirred up a mighty war and had
set in one plain the whole armed force of Persia
gathered from every part, won thereby this one
thing only — that his enemy was disposed to sleep the
better for it.^

Nor shall I tell how the Minyae were carried over the
sea by the talking timber ^ and halted in the harbour
of the Phasis, what time the man-like maid, smitten
by the beauty of the Grecian leader, soothed the
raging bulls and knew no terror even when he whom
she had made a tiller of the soil had sown the teeth
of the vanquished serpent and stood trembling amid
the armed shoots, aghast to see a foe burst into
crop and the spikes take sides and fight with one
another, while over the war-breeding clods the
stalky brothers dripped with green blood.

J shall not here speak of the earth-born band
made more live by the venom in their veins, who,
besides a form that had outgrown all limits, had
likewise snakes with coiling bodies, extending their
scaly legs on high and ending in mouths that served

could possibly sleep so long on that most important of all
days, Alexander answered, "Don't you think the victory
is as good as won, now that we are freed from the necessity
of roaming far and wide over desolate country in pursuit
of the elusive Darius?" (Plutarch, Alex. 32). The "wife,
children and mother " of Darius were captured at the Battle
of Issus (333*B.c.).

* One plank of the Argo was endowed with speech.

177

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

sic formae triplicis procax iuventus

tellurem pede proterens voraci

currebat capitum stiipenda gressu

et cum classica numinum sonabant 85

mox contra tonitrus resibilante

audebat superos ciere planta.

nee Phlegrae legis ampliata rura,

missi diim volitant per astra montes

Pindus, Pelion, Ossa, Olympus, Othrys 90

cum silvis, gregibus, feris, pruinis,

saxis, fontibus, oppidis levati

vibrantum spatiosiore dextra.

Non hie Hereulis exeolam labores,
cui sus, eerva, leo, Gigas, Amazon, 95

hospes, taurus, Eryx, aves, Lyeus, fur,
Nessus, Libs, iuga, poma, virgo, serpens,
Oete, Thraces equi, boves Hiberae,
luctator fluvius, canis triformis
portatusque polus polum dederunt. 100

Non hie EHda nobilem quadrigis
nee notam nimis amnis ex amore
versu prosequar, ut per ima ponti
Alpheus fluat atque transmarina
in fluctus cadat unda coniugales. 105

Non hie Tantaleam domum retexam,
qua mixtum Pelopea per parentem est
prolis facta soror novoque monstro
infamem genuit pater nepotem ;
nil maestum hie canitur; nee esculentam 110

1 Cf. 6. 26.

2 The plains are " enlarged " by the removal of the moun-
tains.

178

IX. TO FELIX

as feet.^ Thus that arrogant young band of triple-
formed monsters, tramphng the earth with ravenous
feet, would run in marvellous wise with stepping
heads ; and when the war-trumps of the gods sounded
they thereupon dared to challenge the denizens of
heaven with foot hissing in reply to the thunder's
roar. Nor do you read here of Phlegra's plains
enlarged ^ when hurtling mountains flew about
among the stars, Pindus, Pelion, Ossa, Olympus,
Othrys, with their woods, herds, beasts, frosts, rocks,
springs, and towns, all uplifted by the hurlers' right
hands that were broader than they.

I shall not here embellish the labours of Hercules,*
to whom boar, deer, lion, giant, Amazon, host, bull,
Eryx, birds, Lycus, thief, Nessus, Libyan, hills,
apples, maid, serpent, Oeta, Thracian steeds, Spanish
cows, Avrestling river, tri-formed dog and the carrying
of heaven gave heaven as a reward.

I shall not here celebrate in verse Elis renowned
for the four-horse chariots nor her who is so famed for
a river's love,* telling how Alpheus flows through
the lowest deeps of the sea and the water on the other
side falls into the connubial waves.

I shall not here recall the house of Tantalus,
wherein Pelopea by union with a- father became the
sister of her children and her father by an unheard-
of deed of horror begat an infamous grandson.
Nothing doleful is here sung; I do not relate the

' Cf. 15. 141 sqq. Most of the references are obvious. The
" giant " is perhaps Typhoeus, the " host " is probably Busiris,
the " thief" is Cacus, the " Libyan " is Antaeus, the " hills "
are Calpe and Abvla (the " Pillars of Hercules "), the " maid "
is Hosione, the " Thracian steeds " are those of Diomede.

* Arethusa.

179

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

fletiis pingimus ad dapem Thyestae,

fratris crimine qui miser voratis

viviim pignoribus fuit sepulcrum,

cum post has epulas repente flexis

Titan curribus occidens ad ortum 115

convivam fugeret, diem fugaret.

Nee Phryx pastor erit tibi legendus,
decrescens cui Dindymon reciso
fertur vertice texuisse classem,

cum iussu Veneris patrocinantis 120

terras Oebalias et hospitales
raptor depopulatus est Amyclas,
praedam trans pelagus petens sequacem.
sed nee Pergama nee decenne bellura
nee saevas Agamemnonis phalangas 125

nee periuria persequar Sinonis,
arx quo Palladio dicata signo
pellaci reserata proditore
portantem pedites equum recepit.

Non hie Maeoniae stilo Camenae 130

civis Duliehiique Thessalique
virtutem sapientiamque narro,
quorum hie Peliaeo putatur antro
venatu, fidibus, palaestra et herbis
sub Saturnigena sene institutus, 135

dum nunc lustra terens puer ferarum
passim per Pholoen iacet nivosam,
nunc praesepibus accubans amatis
dormit mollius in iuba magistri ;

inde Scyriadum datus parent! 140

falsae nomina pertulisse Pyrrhae

111. pingimus : pangimus vulgo, fingimus Buechder.

^ i.e. the sun, when in the middle of its course, suddenly
turned back, making the day retreat.
l8o

IX. TO FELIX

weeping of Thyestes at the gluttonous feast, who
by his brother's crime, unhappy one, was a Hving
tomb for the children he devoured, while the sun, after
that horrible banquet, suddenly turning his car, set
toward the east, and fleeing from the feaster put the
day to flight.^

Nor shall you have to read of the Phrygian shep-
herd ^ for whom, 'tis said, Dindymon ^ grew smaller
and with her lopped crest formed a fleet, when by
order of Venus his abettor that ravisher despoiled the
land of Oebalia and hospitable Amyclae, seeking
across the sea a prey that willingly followed him.
Nay, I shall not go over the tale of Troy and the ten
years' war and the fierce battalions of Agamemnon
and the treachery of Sinon whereby the citadel
dedicated to the image of Pallas was laid open
through the work of a wily betrayer and admitted
the horse that carried foot-soldiers.

I do not here relate with the pen of the Maeonian
muse the wisdom of the Dulichian and the valour
of the Thessalian * ; of whom the second is deemed
to have been trained in a cave of Pelion under an
aged son of Saturn ^ in hunting, in the music of the
l}Te, in wrestling and in the use of simples ; and
the boy, as he scoured the wild beasts' haunts,
would sometimes repose on any part of snowy
Pholoe, at other times he would recHne in the well-
loved stall, sleeping more comfortably on his tutor's
mane ; then, says the story, he was given to the father
of the Scyrian maids, enduring the false name of

* Paris.

' Sidonius is here imitating Statius Silv. I. 1. 10, the only
other passage where the nominative form Dindymon occurs.
Dindymus and Dindyrna (plur.) are the usual forms.

* Ulysses and Achilles. ' Chiron.

i8i

VOL. I. I

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

atque inter tetricae chores Minervae
occultos Veneri rotasse thyrsos ;
postremo ad Phrygiae sonum rapinae
tractus laudibus Hectoris trahendi. 145

ast ilium, cui contigit paternam
quartum post Ithacam redire lustrum,
nee Zmyrnae satis explicat volumen.
nam quis continuare possit illos

quos terra et pelago tulit labores : 150

raptum Palladium, repertum Achillem,
captum praepetibus Dolona plantis
et Rhesi niveas prius quadrigas
Xanthi quam biberent fluenta tractas,
ereptam quoque quam deus patronus, 155

Philocteta, tibi dedit pharetram,
Aiacem Telamonium furentem
quod sese ante rates agente causam
pugnacis tulit eloquens coronam,
vitatum hinc Polyphemon atque Circen 160

et Laestrygonii famem tyranni,
tum pomaria divitis, Calypso et
Sirenas pereuntibus placentes,
vitatas tenebras facemque Naupli
et Scyllae rabidum voracis inguen 165

vel Tauromenitana quos Chary bdis
ructato scopulos cavat profundo ?
Non divos specialibus faventes
agris, urbibus insulisque canto,

Saturnum Latio lovemque Cretae 170

lunonemque Samo Rhodoque Solem,
Hennae Persephonen, Minervam Hymetto,
Vulcanum Liparae, Papho Dionen,

1 Or perhaps " by the glorious prospect of dragging Hector."
182

IX. TO FELIX

Pyrrha, and amid the band of stern Minerva's votaries
he honoured Venus in secret revels : lastly, when the
noise of the Phrygian spoiling reached his ears, he
was dragged away by the glories of that Hector who
would himself one day be dragged.^ But as for the
other hero, whose hap it was to return to Ithaca, the
land of his father, after four lustres had passed, even
Smyrna's scroll ^ does not unfold the whole tale. Nay,
who could relate the whole succession of toils that he
endured on land and sea — the seizing of the Palladium,
the finding of Achilles, the capture of swift-footed
Dolon, and the four snow-white chariot-horses of
Rhesus taken away before they could drink of
Xanthus' stream; likewise the snatching of the
quiver given to Philoctetes by his patron god and
the madness of Ajax son of Telamon because when
he stood before the ships and pled his cause the man
of words won the prize of the man of arms ; then
the escape from Polyphemus, from Circe, and from
the hunger of the Laestrygonian king, and there-
after the rich man's orchard, and Calypso and the
Sirens who charmed men to their doom ; his escape
likewise from the darkness and the torch of Naup-
Uus ^ and the raging groin of ravening Scylla and the
rocks that Charybdis of Tauromenium hollows out
by the belching of the deep ?

I sing not of the divinities that show favour to
special lands, cities, and islands ; Saturn to Latium,
Jove to Crete, Juno to Samos, the Sun-god to Rhodes,
Proserpine to Henna, Minerva to Hymettus, Vulcan
to Lipara, Dione to Paphos, Perseus to Argos,

' Homer.

' Nauplius, by showing false lights on the cliffs of Euboea,
wrecked the Greek ships on their way back from Troy.

183

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Ar^is Persea, Lampsaco Priapum,

Thebis Euhion Ilioque Vestam, 175

Thymbrae Delion, Arcadem Lycaeo,

Martem Thracibus ac Scythis Dianam,

qiios fecere deos dicata templa,

tus, sal, far, mola vel superfluarum

consecratio caerimoniarum. 180

Non cum Triptolemo verendam Eleusin,
qui primas populis dedere aristas
pastis Chaonium per ilicetum,
non Apin Mareoticum sonabo

ad Memphitica sistra concitari. 185

non dicam Lacedaemonos iuventam
unctas Tyndaridis dicasse luctas,
doctos quos patriis palen Therapnis
gymnas Bebrycii tremit theatri ;

non sortes Lyciasque Caeritumque, 190

responsa aut Themidis priora Delphis,
nee quae fulmine Tuscus expiato
saeptum numina quaerit ad bidental ;
nee quos Euganeum bibens Timavum
colle Antenoreo videbat augur 195

divos Thessalicam movere pugnam ;
nee quos Amphiaraus et Melampus
* * *

ex ipsis rapuit deos favillis

per templum male fluctuante flamma

gaudens lumine perdito Metellus. 200

1 See 5. 163 n.

* A place struck by lightning. Such places were hca
religiosa, i.e. a taboo was attached to them. The Hghtning
was ceremonially "buried" {fulmen condere) and a sheep
sacrificed (hence the name, from bidens); then the spot was
doubly enclosed by a high kerb and an outer wall. At Rome

184

IX. TO FELIX

Priapus to Lampsacus, Bacchus to Thebes, Vesta
to Ilium, the Delian god to Thymbra, the Arcadian
to Lycaeus, Mars to Thrace, Diana to Scythia, who
have all been made gods by the dedication of temples
to them, by incense, salt, spelt, meal, and the
hallowing of vain rites.

I shall not trumpet forth the worshipful Eleusis
and Triptolemus, givers of the first corn to folks
wont to find their food in the Chaonian oak-forest;
nor Egyptian Apis aroused by the sounds of the
Memphitic sistrum. I shall not tell how Sparta's
young manhood dedicated the oily wrestling-bout
to the sons of Tyndarus, at whose prowess, learned
in their native Therapnae, the athletes of the
Bebrycian ^ arena trembled. Nor shall my theme be
Lycian or Caerite oracles or the earlier responses
of Themis at Delphi or the divinities that the Tuscan,
when he expiates the lightning, seeks at the fenced
bidental,2 or the gods whom on Antenor's mount the
seer ^ who drank the waters of Euganean Timavus
saw stirring up the Thessalian battle ; nor of those
whom Amphiaraus and Melampus . . . (nor of) the
gods that Metellus * snatched even from the midst
of the burning, when the flames surged ruinously
through the temple, and he rejoiced in the loss of

the help of Etruscan experts was frequently enlisted on such
occasions. Sidonius is probably thinking of the Puteal Libonis
in the Roman Forum.

' Cornelius, a priest, was said to have seen at Patavium
a vision of the battle of Pharsalia. Sidonius i& thinking of
Lucan VII. 192 sqq., where the story is related with con-
siderable scepticism. For Euganeum see n. on 2. 189.

* L. Caecilius Metellus, Pontifex Maximus, rescued the
Palladium when the temple of Vesta caught fire in 241 B.C.
His bravery cost him his eyesight. The generalising plural
dei is often used of an action affecting one deity.

185

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

non hie Cinj^hius canetur Hammon

mitratum caput elevans harenis,

vix se post hecatombion litatum

suetus promere Syrtium barathro.

non hie Dindyma nee erepante buxo 205

Curetas Bereeynthiam sonantes,

non Baeehum trieteriea exserentem

deseribam et tremulas furore festo

ire in Bassaridas vel infulatos

aram ad turicremam rotare mystas. 210

Non hie Hesiodea pinguis Ascrae
speetes carmina Pindarique chordas ;
non hie soceiferi ioeos Menandri,
non laesi Arehilochi feros iambos,
vel plus Stesiehori graves Camenas, 215

aut quod composuit puella Lesbis ;
non quod Mantua eontumax Homero
adiecit Latiaribus loquehs,
aequari sibimet subinde livens

busto Parthenopam Maroniano ; 220

non quod post saturas epistularum
sermonumque sales novumque epodon,
libros carminis ac poetieam artem

216. Lesbis Luetjohann : lesbi.

221. post ieo: per codd., quod reiineri potest si valuit {Luei-
johann) in v. 225 legos.

^ It is surprising to find (H)amnion wearing a mitra on his
homed head. Bacchus is so represented in Sen. Phaedr. 756,
and Sidonius may have had a confused recollection of that
passage. By Syrtes here Sidonius may mean "the land near
the Syrtes " ; the Roman poets are always ready to bring any
Libyan lands near to those famous gulfs ; see 5. 263 sq. and
Lucan IV. 673, confnis Syriibus Hammon. He may, however,
be alluding to the fact, that the land extending from the Syrtes
to the oasis of Ammon had formerly been covered by the sea;
see Strabo I. 3. 4.
l86

IX. TO FELIX

his sight. Here no Cinyphian Hammon ^ shall be
sung, who raises his snooded head among the desert
sands and even after auspicious sacrifice of a heca-
tomb will scarce show himself from the depths of
the Syrtes ; nor shall I picture Dindyma or the Curetes
sounding on murmuring box-pipe the praises of the
Berecynthian Mother ; nor Bacchus, as he brings forth
his triennial festival and invades the Bassarids quiver-
ing with the frenzy of the feast and whirls his fillet-
crowned votaries beside the incense-burning altar.

Not here shall you behold the Hesiodic strains of
sluggish Ascra or Pindar's lyre; nor the jests of
Menander, wearer of comedy's sock; nor the
savage lampoons of the injured Archilochus ; nor
the graver muse of Stesichorus or the song fashioned
by the Lesbian maid; nor that which Mantua,
defying Homer's supremacy, added to Latin utter-
ance— Mantua, soon jealous that Parthenope matched
her by possessing Virgil's tomb ; nor the notes that
Horace was fain to sound when he penned the
praises of Phoebus and roaming Diana after the
medleys of the Epistles, ^ the witty sallies of the

' Sidoniiis seems to be playing on the word saiura by using
it in its old sense of " medley " and applying it to the Epistles,
not the Satires, of Horace. Horace refers to his Satires as
aaiurae as well as sermones. In Suetonius' life of the poet a
phrase from the Epistles is said to occur in saturis ; but this is
probably an inadvertence, though Hendrickson in ^m. Joum.
Phil. XVIII (1897), pp. 313-324, uses it, along with the present
passage (wrongly punctuated with commas after saturas and
eale^) and other inconclusive evidence, to prove that the
ancients assigned the Epistles as well as the Satires to the
literary genre called saiura (or satira). Line 224 refers to the
Carmen Saeculare, the first line of which is Phoebe silvarumqwe.
potens Diana, but it was not the latest work of Horace, as is
implied if the reading here given is correct.

187

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Phoebi laudibus et vagae Dianae

conscriptis voluit sonare Flaccus ; 225

non quod Papinius tuus meusque

inter Labdacios sonat furores

aut cum forte pedum minore rhythmo

pingit gemmea prata silvularum.

Non quod Corduba praepotens alumnis 230

facundum ciet, hie putes legendum,
quorum unus colit hispidum Platona
incassumque suum monet Neronera,
orchestram quatit alter Euripidis,
pictum faecibus Aeschylon secutus 235

aut plaustris solitum sonare Thespin,
qui post pulpita trita sub cothurno
ducebant olidae marem capellae ;
pugnam tertius ille Gallicani

dixit Caesaris, ut gener socerque 240

cognata impulerint in arma Romam,
tantum dans lacrimas suis Philippis,
ut credat Cremerae levem ruinam,
infra et censeat Alliam dolendam
ac Brenni in trutina lovem redemptum, 245

postponat Trebiam gravesque Cannas,
stragem nee Trasimenicam loquatur,
fratres Scipiadas putet silendos,
quos Tartesiacus retentat orbis,

* The Thebais and Silvae of Statius.

2 Referring to the long hair and beard typical of the philo-
sopher : of. Epist. IV. 11.1.

^ Sidonius wrongly regards the philosopher Seneca as dis-
tinct from the writer of tragedies.

* Cf. Hor. ^.P. 276sq.

* Hor. ib. 220. « Lucan.

l88

IX. TO FELIX

Satires, the new-fangled Epodes, the books of Odes
and the Art of Poetry ; nor what Papinius, dear to
you and to me, utters amid the frenzy of the house
of Labdacus, or when in shorter-footed measure
he portrays the begemmed meads of his Httle
" Silvae."^

Nor must you expect to read here the eloquence
called forth by Corduba, great in her sons, of whom
one is devoted to the unkempt ^ Plato and vainly
admonishes his pupil Nero, another ^ rouses again
the stage of Euripides and also follows Aeschylus,
who painted his face with wine-lees, and Thespis,
who was wont to give utterance from waggons,*
bards who after treading the stage with their buskins
used to lead away the mate of a fetid she-goat : '^
third of Corduba 's sons was he who sang the fight
of Caesar the Gallic conqueror,^ how a father and his
daughter's husband drove Rome into a war of
kinsfolk;' and so bitterly does he weep for his
Philippi ^ that he deems the disaster of Cremera a
trifle, he avers that Allia ^ and the ransom of Jupiter ^^
in the scales of Brennus are less to be lamented,
he holds Trebia ^^ and dire Cannae ^^ of less moment,
he has naught to say of Trasimene's slaughter, he
thinks those Scipios not worth a w ord whom the region
of Tartessus holds, he takes no account of the ruinous

' Cognata arma probably alludes to Lucan's cognatas
acies, I. 4.

8 Philippi, i.e. Pharsalia. Poets (Verg. Georg I. 489 sq.)
often place Philippi and Pharsalia in the same region. The
very first line of Lucan places Pharsalia in Macedonia.
» Lucan VII. 409.

1° lovem, i.e. the Capitol, the habitation of Jupiter.
" Lucan II. 46.
12 ib. II. 46, VII. 408.

189

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Euphraten taceat male appetitum, 2.50

Crassorum et madidas cruore Carrhas

vel quos, Spartace, consulum solebas

victrici gladios fugare sica,

ipsum nee fleat ille plus duellum,

quod post Cimbrica turbidus tropaea 255

et vinctum Nasamonium lugurtham,

dum quaerit Mithridaticum triumphum,

Arpinas voluit movere Sullae.

Non Gaetulicus hie tibi legetur,
non Marsus, Pedo, Silius, TibuUus, 260

non quod Sulpiciae iocus Thaliae
seripsit blandiloquum suo Caleno,
non Persi rigor aut lepos Properti,
sed nee centimeter Terentianus.

non Lucilius hie Lucretiusque est, 265

non Turnus, Memor, Ennius, Catullus,
Stella et Septimius Petroniusque
aut mordax sine fine Martialis,
non qui tempore Caesaris secundi
aeterno incoluit Tomos reatu, 270

^ This and the previous line probably refer to Lucan I.
10 sqq., though the poet does not there say that the disaster
of Carrhae was of little account compared with the Civil
War; he merely says that the Romans would have done
better to avenge Carrhae than to fight among themselves.
In I. 103-108 he makes the disaster of Carrhae and the death
of Crassus responsible for the Civil War.

2 Cf. Luc. II. 67-133.

' In Martial I. prdef. (which Sidonius probably ha'd in mind)
Gaetulicus, Marsus and Pedo are mentioned as epigrammatists.
Gaetuhcus, after a distinguished official career, was put to
death by Caligula, a.d. 39. He is sometimes credited with
a historical work, but it was probably an epic poem. He is
mentioned again by Sidonius in Epist. II. 10. 6. Domitius
Marsus, an Augustan poet, wrote, besides epigrams, versified

190

IX. TO FELIX

attempt on the Euphrates and of Carrhae drenched
with the blood of the Crassi,^ or of the consuls whose
swords Spartacus was wont to rout v/ith victorious
dagger; nay, he does not bewail more bitterly
that war which the man of Arpinum, wild with
arrogance after his Cimbric trophies and the en-
chainment of Nasamonian Jugurtha, and seeking
next a Mithridatic triumph, was fain to stir up against
Sulla.2

Here you shall read no Gaetulicus, Marsus, Pedo,^
Silius, or TibuUus, nor the winsome words which
Sulpicia's * sprightly muse wrote to her Calenus,
nor the sternness of Persius nor the liveliness of
Propertius, nor yet Terentianus of the hundred
metres.^ Here is no Lucilius, no Lucretius, Tumus,
Memor,^ Ennius, Catullus, Stella,'' Septimius,^ or
Petronius, no Martial 'v\ith his constant bite, nor
he who in the days of the second Caesar dwelt at
Tomi,^ a prisoner never absolved ; nor he who later

tales and an epic. Albino vanus Pedo was a friend of Ovid.
He wrote an epic called Theseis and a poem (of which an inter-
esting fragment is preserved) on the exploits of (Jermanicus
in the North,

* Sulpicia, a writer of love-poetry in the time of Domitian.
Calenus was her husband. The satura which goes under her
name probably belongs to a later age.

' centimeter : apparently a popular designation of writers
on metre, perhaps suggested by the work of Servius, De Centum
Metria. The reference is to Terentianus Maurus.

' Tumus, a satirist, Memor, a writer of tragedies, in the
age of Domitian.

' L. Amintius Stella, a native of Padua, often mentioned
by his friends Martial and Statins. He wrote love-elegies
celebrating Violentilla, who became his wife.

* In all probability Septimius Serenus, mentioned in 14
Praef. 3, a poet of the age of Hadrian, who wrote opuscula on
rural themes. • Ovid : cf. 23. 158 sqq.

191

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

nee qui eonsimili deinde easu

ad vulgi tenuem strepentis auram

irati fuit histrionis exsul,

non Pelusiaeo satus Canopo,

qui ferruginei toros mariti 275

et Musa canit inferos superna,

nee qui iam patribus fuere nostris

primo tempore maximi sodales,

quorum unus Bonifatium secutus

nee non praeeipitem Sebastianum 280

natales puer horruit Cadurcos

plus Pandionias amans Athenas ;

cuius si varium legas poema,

tunc Phoebum vel Hyantias puellas

potato madidas ab Hippocrene, 285

tunc Amphiona filiumque Maiae,

tune vatem Rhodopeium sonare

conlato modulamine arbitreris.

Non tu hie nunc legeris tuumque fulmen,
o dignissime Quintianus alter, 290

spernens qui Ligurum solum et penates
mutato lare Gallias amasti,
inter classica, signa, pila, turmas
laudans Aetium vacansque libro,
in eastris hederate laureatis. 295

sed nee tertius ille nunc legetur,
Baetin qui patrium semel relinquens

295. hederate laureatis Chatelain : (h)edera ter laureatus.

^ On the stories of Juvenal's banishment see DufiF's ed.,
pp. x-xiii, Plessis, La Poesie latine 633-641 (discussion of
the present passage on p. 635).

2 Claudian, De Baptu Proserpinae.

192

IX. TO FELIX

by a like misfortune, on the stirring of a breath of
vulgar gossip, became the exiled victim of an angry
actor 1 ; nor that son of Egyptian Canopus who of
the dusky bridegroom's marriage and of the denizens
of hell doth sing with his heavenly muse ; ^ nor those
who even in their earliest days were the greatest
of our fathers' comrades, of whom one,^ following
Boniface and the headstrong Sebastian, abhorred in
boyhood his native Cadurcans,* loving Pandion's
Athens more : were you to read his varied poems,
then would you think that Phoebus was giving
utterance, and the Boeotian maids, their lips all
moist with draughts of Hippocrene, and Amphion
too and the son of Maia and the bard of Rhodope,
all contributing their melody.

Nor does the reader now find thee here, Quintianus,^
the second of the three, with thy thunderbolt, who
spurning thy Ligurian soil and home didst change
thine abode and give Gaul thy love, and didst sing the
praises of Aetius amid trumpet-calls, standards,
spears, and troops, sparing time for the pen as for the
sword, a bard ivy-crowned in a belaurelled camp.
Nor shall the reader here find that other ,^ the third of
the band, who leaving once for all his native Baetis

' The name of this poet is unknown. Sebastian succeeded
his father-in-law Boniface as magister utriusque militiae in a.d.
432. After an adventurous career ho finally betook himself to
Geiseric, who put him to death in a.d. 450 because he would
not abjure the Catholic faith.

* In Aquitaine, S.W. of the Arvemi.
^ Quintianus, not otherwise known.

* Flavins Merobaudes. The inscription attached to his
statue has been found (C. I. L. vi. 1724, Dessau 2950). Its
date is a.d. 435. The princeps {v. 300) is Valentinian III;
this reference to him is astonishingly kind after 7. 359 and
532 &. In 23. 214 he is pitis princeps.

*93

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

undosae petiit sitim Ravennae,

plo sores cui fulgidam Quirites

et carus popularitate princeps 300

Traiano statuam foro locarunt.

Sed ne tu mihi comparare temptes,
quos multo minor ipse plus adoro,
Paulinum Ampeliumque Symmachumque.
Messalam ingenii satis profundi 305

et nulli modo Martium secundum,
dicendi arte nova parem vetustis
Petrum et cum loquitur nimis stupendura,
vel quern municipalibus poetis

praeponit bene vilicum senatus, 310

nostrum aut quos retinet solum disertos,
dulcem Anthedion et mihi magistri
Musas sat venerabiles Hoeni,
acrem Lampridium, catum Leonem
praestantemque tuba Severianum 315

^ This jest about Ravenna is found in Martial III. 5G
and 57, and is repeated by Sidonius in Epist. 1.8. 2 ; of. ib.
I. 6. 6.

* Paulinum, probably not Pontius Paulinus {Epist. VIII.
12. 5), son of Pontius Leontius, whose " Castle " is celebrated
in Carm. 22. This line seems to refer to (epistolary ?) wTiters
of the age of Symmachus, and GaUo-Roman writers seem to
be excluded from this part of the paragraph (see v. 311).
The reference may possibly be to Paulinus of Nola, who,
though a native of Gaul, came to be closely associated with Italy.

^ The Ampelius mentioned here is supposed to be P. Am-
pelius, who held several high offices of state in the fourth
century. He died not later than 397. He was a corre-
spondent of Libanius.

* Valerius Messala is highly praised for his eloquence by
Symmachus, who wrote several letters to him. He is probably
the Messala praised by Rutilius Namatianus, 1. 267 sqq.

* Probably not Martius Myro (23. 444).

194

IX. TO FELIX

betook himself to that place of thirst, well-watered
Ravenna,^ and to whom the acclaiming citizens of
Rome and the Emperor so beloved for his gracious-
ness set up a gleaming statue in Trajan's Forum.

And try not, gentle reader, to compare me with
those whom I, vastly their inferior, worship all the
more, Paulinus,^ Ampelius,^ and Symmachus, Mes-
sala * of genius so profound, Martius,^ second to
none in these times, Petrus,® equal of the ancients
in the modern style of eloquence and a marvel to
all when he speaks, or that steward ^ whom the
senate rightly prefers to the poets of the towns ;
or those men of gifted utterance whom our soil
possesses, charming Anthedius,^ my master Hoenius,
whose muse commands my deepest reverence,
spirited Lampridius,^ shrewd Leo,^^ and Severi-

« 3. 5 n.

' Vilicum is not likely to be a proper name. Juvenal (IV. 77)
uses the word of a praefectus urbi. The mention of the Senate
in V. 310 makes it probable that Sidonius is thinking of that
passage and referring to a contemporary prefect ; in his day
the jpraef. urbi was president of the Senate. We do not possess
a complete list of the city prefects for the period in which this
poem must have been written, and there is no evidence that
an}"^ of the known prefects was a poet. Sidonius plays on the
ordinary meaning of vilicus, " farm-bailiff."

« Anthedius, a friend of Sidonius; 22 epist. § 2; Epist. VIII.
11. 2. Hoenius is not otherwise known.

* Lampridius taught rhetoric at Bordeaux. For an appreci-
ation of him see Epist. VIII. 11.3 sqq. ; on his poetical talent
Epist. IX. 13. 2 carm. 20 sq. and § 4. He gained favour with
Euric, and Sidonius seems in Epist. VIII. 9 to angle for his
good offices with that king.

^° Leo, a native of Narbonne, descended from Fronto {Epist.
VIII. 3. 3), lauded as a poet (cf. 23. 450-4, Epist IX. 13. 2,
carm. 20; ib. IX. 15. 1, carm. 19 sq.) and as a jurist (23. 447).
He became a minister of Euric, and no doubt helped to
procure the release of Sidonius ; see Introd., p. xlix.

195

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

et sic scribere non minus valentem,
Marcus Quintilianus ut solebat.

Nos valde sterilis modos Camenae
rarae credimus hos brevique chartae,
quae scombros merito piperque portet. 320

nam quisnam deus hoc dabit reiectae,
ut vel suscipiens bonos odores,
nardum ac pinguia Nicerotianis
quae fragrant alabastra tincta sucis,
Indo cinnamon ex rogo petitum, 325

quo Phoenix iuvenescit occidendo,
costum, malobathrum, rosas, amomum,
myrrham, tus opobalsamumque servet?
quapropter facinus meum tuere
et condiscipuli tibi obsequentis 330

incautum, precor, asseras pudorem.
germanum tamen ante sed memento,
doctrinae columen, Probum advocare,
isti qui valet exarationi

destrictum bonus apphcare theta. 335

novi sed bene, non refello culpam,
nee doctis placet impudens poeta ;
sed nee turgida contumeliosi
lectoris nimium verebor ora,

si tamquam gravior severiorque 340

nostrae Terpsichores iocum refutans
rugato Cato tertius labello
narem rhinoceroticam minetur.
non te terreat hie nimis peritus ;
verum si cupias probare, tanta 345

nullus scit, mihi crede, quanta nescit.
324. flagrant codd.

^ Severianus, poet and rhetorician: see Epist. IX. 13. 4;
IX. 15. 1 carm. 37. He may be the lulius Severianus who is
the reputed compiler of a collection of rhetorical precepts still
196

IX. TO FKLIX

anus,^ who excels in trumpet-tones and is no less apt
in such writing as Marcus Quintilianus used to pen.

As for these measures of my sadly barren muse, I
rarely commit them to a papyrus-sheet, and then
only to a short one ,2 which would rightly be used
for carrying mackerel or pepper — for what god will
ever grant to my scorned sheet even the small boon
of sniffing pleasant scents and being used for wrap-
ping nard and oily alabaster flasks fragrant with
Nicerotian ^ essences, and cinnamon got from the
Indian * pyre where the Phoenix renews his youth by
dying, and costum and malobathrum and roses and
amomum and incense and opobalsamum? There-
fore defend my audacious deed and vindicate, I pray
you, in its rash escapade the modesty of a school-
fellow who is but obeying your orders. But re-
member first to call in that pillar of learning, your
brother Probus, who is able, with all his kindness,
to attach a stern obelus to this scribbling. But I
know it well, I am not clearing myself of guilt, and
a shameless poet does not please the well-instructed.
And yet I shall not dread excessively the pompous
mouthing of an abusive reader, should he, with an
air of superior gravity and sternness, like a third
Cato, spurn the jesting of my Terpsichore, purse his
lips and threaten me with the contemptuous nose of a
rhinoceros. Let not this too consummate pundit
frighten you. If you would get at the real truth, beUeve
me, nobody knows as many things as he doesn't know.

extant {Rhet. Min., Halm, pp. 350-370), but there is nothing
to prove it. Tuba probably refers to Epic poetry.

* See Introd., p. Iv, n. 1.

» An epithet borrowed from Martial (VI. 55. 3, X. 38. 8).
Niceros was a famous perfumer in the time of Domitian.

* See n. on Krythras, 2. 447. ^

197

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

PRAEFATIO EPITHALAMII DICTI RVRICIO
ET HIBERIAE

Flucticolae cum festa nurus Pagasaea per antra

rupe sub Emathia Pelion explicuit,
angustabat humum superum satis ampla supellex ;

certabant gazis hinc polus hinc pelagus ;
ducebatque chores viridi prope tectus amictu 5

caeruleae pallae concolor ipse socer;
nympha quoque in thalamos veniens de gurgite nuda

vestiti coepit membra timere viri.
tum divum quicumque aderat terrore remote

quo quis pollebat lusit in officio. 10

luppiter emisit tepidum sine pondere fulmen

et dixit: " melius nunc Cytherea calet."
Pollux tum caestu laudatus, Castor habenis,

Pallas tum cristis, Delia tum pharetris;
Alcides clava, Mavors tum lusit in hasta, 15

Areas tum virga, nebride tum Bromius.
hie et Pipliadas induxerat optimus Orpheus

chordis, voce, manu, carminibus, calamis.
ambitiosus Hymen totas ibi contulit artes ;

qui non ingenio, fors placuit genio. 20

1 Ruricius (to whom Epist. IV. 16, V. 15, VIII. 10 are

addressed) was a member of a noble family comiected with the
gens Anicia. Hiberia, whom he married, was the daughter
of Ommatius, an Arvernian of good family who does not seem
to have taken much part in public life. Ruricius afterwards

198

X. PREFACE TO RURICIUS

X

PREFACE TO THE EPITHALAMIUM OF
RURICIUS AND HIBERIA ^

When Pelion displayed the marriage-feast of the
sea-maiden ^ in a Pagasaean cave beneath an
Emathian crag, the stately pageantry of the gods
taxed the ground to hold it ; on this side the sky, on
that the sea vied one with the other in their treasures,
and the song and dance were led by the bride's
father almost hidden in his green robe and himself
of the same hue as his sea-coloured mantle. The
nymph also, coming naked from the waves to her
marriage, was seized with fear of the bridegroom's
draped form. Then every god that was present laid
aside his dreadfulness and exhibited a playful version
of his special power. Jupiter hurled a thunderbolt
that had heither heat nor force, and said, ** At this
time it is more fitting for our lady of Cythera to show
warmth." Pollux then won praise with the boxing-
glove, Castor with reins, Pallas with her plumed
helm, the Delian goddess with her arrows ; Hercules
frolicked with his club, Mars with his spear, the
Arcadian god with his wand, Bromius with the fawn-
skin. At this moment the Muses also had been
introduced by the incomparable Orpheus with strings,
voice, hand, songs, and reeds. Hymen, eager to
show off, mustered there all arts, and he who did not
give pleasure by his merit gave pleasure behke by

entered the Church, and in a.d. 485 became Bishop of Limoges.
We possess two books of his letters, written mostly before his
episcopate. Two letters are addressed to Sidonius.
• Thetis, daughter of Nereus, bride of Peleus.

199

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Fescennina tamen non sunt admissa priusquam
intonuit solita noster Apollo lyra.

XI

EPITHALAiMIVM

[Inter Cyaneas, Ephyraea cacumina, cautes
qua super Idalium levat Orithyion in aethram
exesi sale montis apex, ubi forte vagantem
dum fugit et fixit trepidus Symplegada Tiphys,
atque recurrentem ructatum ad rauca Maleam,] 5
exit in Isthmiacum pelagus claudentibus alis
saxorum de rupe sinus, quo saepe recessu
sic tamquam toto coeat de lumine caeli,
artatur collecta dies tremulasque per undas
insequitur secreta vadi, transmittitur alto 10

perfusus splendor e latex, mirumque relatu,
lympha bibit solem tenuique inserta fluento
perforat arenti radio lux sicca liquorem.

Profecit studio spatium ; nam Lemnius illic
ceu templum lusit Veneri fulmenque relinquens 15
hie ferrugineus fumavit saepe Pyragmon.
hie lapis est de quinque locis dans quinque colores
Aethiops, Phrygius, Parius, Poenus, Lacedaemon,

2. orithion codd.

11. mirumque Jilohr et in adnot. Luetjohann : miroque.

^ ingenio . . . genio, an antithesis found in several other
places, but the meaning of genius varies. Here it probably
means " geniality," " mirthfulness." See n. on 2. 191.

* i.e. the Apollo of us poets.

^ The first five lines of this difficult poem are an unintelligible
jumble, and v. 5 cannot even be construed. Vv. 3 and 4
may be by Sidonius ; if we retain them and omit w. 1 and 2
sinus will be ace. plur. after claudentibus, and should probably
be altered to sinum. Corinth is prominent in the Ai-gonautic

200

XI. EPITHALAMIUM

his spirit.^ But Fescennine jests were not admitted
until our Apollo ^ had made his song ring forth on the
familiar lyre.

XI

EPITHALAMIUM »

[Between the Dark-blue Rocks, Ephyra's peaks,
where the summit of a sea-worn mountain raises
Orithyion above Idalium * to the sky, in which place,
as it chanced, the wandering Symplegades were
fixed fast by the trembling Tiphys even as he fled
from them, . . .] there emerges into the sea of the
Isthmus a bay enclosed by wings of piled rocks jutting
from the cliff; in which retreat, just as if the whole
radiance of the sky were concentrated there, ^ the
daylight is gathered together into a naiTow space, and
penetrating the quivering waters it searches out the
secluded depths, and so the ripples pass on, bathed in
deep-shining brightness, and, wondrous to tell, the
water drinks in the sun and the light, pushed into
the limpid stream, bores unwetted through the wet
with arid ray.

This site favoured a labour of love ; for there the
Lemnian god amused himself by building a mimic
temple for Venus, and swarthy Pyragmon, abandon-
ing the thunderbolt, raised his smoke in the place
many a time. Here is stone from five regions, giving
forth five hues, Aethiopian, Phrygian, Parian, Punic,

legend, but it is very surprising to find the Symplegades in its
neighbourhood. For the legend of the storm encountered by
the Argonauts ofiE Cape Malea (to which v. 5 must refer) see
Herodotus IV. 179.

* Or " raises up Idalian Orithyion " — whatever that may
mean.

9QI

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

purpureus, viridis, maculosus, eburnus et albus.

postes chrysolithi fulvus difFulgurat ardor; 20

myrrhina, sardonyches, amethystus Hiberus, iaspis

Indus, Chalcidicus, Scythicus, beryllus, achates

attollunt duplices argenti cardine valvas,

per quas inclusi lucem vomit umbra smaragdi;

limina crassus onyx crustat propterque hyacinth! 25

caerula concordem iaciunt in stagna colorem.

exterior non compta silex, sed prominet alte

asper ab adsiduo lympharum verbere pumex.

interiore loco simulavit Mulciber auro

exstantes late scopulos atque arte magistra 30

ingenti cultu naturae inculta fefellit,

huic operi insistens, quod necdum noverat ilia

quae post Lemniacis damnavit furta catenis.

squameus hue Triton duplicis confinia dorsi,

qua coeunt supra sinuamina tortilis alvi, 35

inter aquas calido portavit corde Dionen.

sed premit adiecto radiantis pondere conch ae

semiferi Galatea latus, quod pollice fixo

vellit, et occulto spondet conubia tactu;

tum gaudens torquente ioco subridet amator 40

vulnere iamque suam parcenti pistre flagellat.

pone subit turmis flagrantibus agmen Amorum;

hie cohibet delphina rosis, viridique iuvenco

hie vectus spretis pendet per cornua frenis ;

26. iaciunt Luetjohann in adnot. ; faciunt.

^ The descriptions, if placed in the same order as the stones,
would have been " purple (see 5. 34 sqq. n.), spotted, white,
ivory (5. 37 sq. n.), green."

2 GhalcidictLs probably refers to chalcitis, a copper-coloured
gem (Plin. N. H. XXXVII. 191). Scythicus refers to the
Scythian emerald, said by Plinv {N. H. XXXVII. 65) to be
the finest of all : cf. Martial IV. 28. 4.

202

XI. EPITHALAMIUM

Spartan — purple, green, mottled, ivory, white. ^ The
yellow glow of topaz flashes through the doorpost ;
porcelain, sardonyx, Caucasian amethyst, Indian
jasper, Chalcidian and Scythian stones ,2 beryl and
agate, form the double doors that rise upon silver
pivots, and through these doors the shadowy recess
beyond pours out the sheen of the emeralds that are
within. Onyx thickly encrusts the threshold, and
hard by the blue colour of amethyst casts upon the
lagoon a harmonious hue. Outside is no dressed
stone, but towering walls of rock that has been
roughened by the constant lashing of the waters.
In the inner part Mulciber mimicked in gold the crags
that rise up far and wide, and with his skill to guide
him counterfeited with mighty art the artless crea-
tions of Nature, plying his work diligently — for not
yet did he know of that deception which afterwards
he punished with his Lemnian chains. Hither scaly
Triton with heart aflame bore amid the waters
Venus, seated where the boundaries of his double
back meet above the windings of his writhing belly.*
But Galatea has brought up close to him her weighty,
glittering shell, and presses his side, which she pinches
with inserted thumb, promising by that stealthy touch
connubial bliss ; whereupon the lover, rejoicing in
that torturing jest, smiles at the wound and anon
lashes his beloved with a gentle stroke of his fishy
tail. Behind them comes a column of Loves in
ardent squadrons ; one controls a dolphin with reins
of roses, another rides on a green sea-calf, despising
bridle's aid and clinging to the horns ; others are on

' The nether half of this merman is fishy, the fore part
human; the former is in perpetual motion as he propels
himself by lashing the water. Venus is seated on his back,
just clear of the agitated fishy half.

203

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

hi stantes motu titubant plantaque madenti 45

labuntur firmantque pedum vestigia pennis.

Ilia recurvato demiserat ora lacerto
mollia; marcebant violae graviorque sopore
coeperat attritu florum descendere cervix,
solus de numero fratrum qui pulchrior ille est 50
deerat Amor, dum festa parat celeberrima Gallis,
quae socer Ommatius, magnorum maior avorum
patriciaeque nepos gentis, natae generoque
excolit auspiciis faustis. sed fulsit ut ille
forte dies, matrem celeri petit ipse volatu, 55

cui fax, arcus, gorytus pendebat. at ille
cernuus et laevae pendens in margine palmae
libratos per inane pedes adverberat alis,
oscula sic matris carpens somnoque refusae
semisopora levi scalpebat lumina penna. 60

turn prior his alacer coepit : " nova gaudia porto
felicis praedae, genetrix. calet ille superbus
Ruricius nostris facibus dulcique veneno
tactus votivum suspirat corde dolorem.
esset si praesens aetas, impenderet illi 65

Lemnias imperium, Cressa stamen lab} rinthi,
Alceste vitam, Circe herbas, poma Calypso,
Scylla comas, Atalanta pedes, Medea furores,

^ "as . . . wakefulness." L. C. Purser's rendering. The
context seems to show that this is the meaning, although,
curiously enough, somno refiLsa might also mean "sinking back
in sleep " : cf. Lucan VIII. 105, reftisa coniugis in gremium.

2 Hypsip3^1e.

^ The form Alceste occurs also in 15. 165. The only other
certain instance is in an inscription (C. I. L. VI. 34964),
where it does not refer to the mythological character.

* Scylla was the daughter of Nisus, king of Megara. He
had one red lock in his hair, and on its preservation depended
his life and fortune. When Minos was besieging Megara,
Scylla, who had fallen in love with him, severed her father's
204

XI. EPITHALAMIUM

foot, swaying with the motion, slipping on their
dripping soles and steadying their steps with their
wings.

Venus had let her soft cheek rest upon her bended
arm; the violets about her grew languid and
her neck had begun to sink, ever heavier with
slumber as the flowers pressed against her. Of
all the troop of brothers one alone was missing,
the Love-god, the fairest of them all; for he
was contriving a glorious marriage-feast for the
Gauls, a feast that the bride's father Ommatius,
scion of a patrician race and the greatest of his great
line, was gracing with splendour for his daughter and
her bridegroom amid happy auguries. But when in
due course the great day da\vned, then the god with
swift flight sought his mother, with torch, bow, and
quiver slung upon him. Stooping down and resting
on the edge of his left hand, vdth his wings he lashed
his feet, as they hung poised in the air, and thus he
snatched kisses from his mother ; and as she floated
back into wakefulness ^ he began to graze her half-
slumbering eyes with the light touch of a feather.
Then before she could speak he briskly addressed
her thus : " I bring you a new joy. Mother, the joy
of a happy capture. That proud Ruricius is set
aflame by our torch ; he has caught the sweet poison
and heaves sighs of welcome pain. If those olden
times were now, the maid of Lemnos ^ would have
lavished on him her sovereignty, the Cretan maid
the thread for the labyrinth, Alcestis ^ her life, Circe
her magic herbs, Calypso her apples, Scylla * the fatal
hair, Atalanta her swift feet, Medea her mad passions,

red lock. This story is the subject of the Ciris, one of the
minor works attributed to Virgil.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Hippodame ceras, cygno love nata coronam ;

huic Dido in ferrum, simul in suspendia Phyllis, 70

Euadne in flammas et Sestias isset in undas."

His haec ilia refert : " Gaudemus, nate, rebellem
quod vincis laudasque virum ; sed forma puellae est
quam si spectasset quondam Stheneboeius heros,
non pro contemptu domuisset monstra Chimaerae ; 75
Thermodontiaca vel qui genetrice superbus
sprevit Gnosiacae temeraria vota novercae,
hac visa occiderat, fateor, sed crimine vero ;
et si iudicio forsan mihi quarta fuisset,
me quoque Rhoetea damnasset pastor in Ida; 80
* vincere vel, si optas, istam da, malo, puellam '
dixerat : banc dederam formam pro munere forraae.
tantus honor geniusque genis ; collata rubori
pallida blatta latet depressaque lumine vultus
nigrescunt vincto bacarum fulgura coUo. 85

te quoque multimodis ambisset, Hiberia, ludis
axe Pelops, cursu Hippomenes luctaque Achelous,
Aeneas bellis spectatus, Gorgone Perseus ;
nee minus haec species totiens cui luppiter esset

81 . dist. ego : vincere passivum est.

89. minus ego : minor. Vid. Class. Quart., loc. cit., p. 20.

1 Hippodamia : for ceras cf. 2. 492.

' Helen crowned Menelaus with a garland to signify that
she had chosen him from among her many suitors. Hygin.
Fab. 78.

' Phyllis, daughter of a Thracian king, hanged herself
when Demophon, who had promised to return from Athens
and marry her, did not appear on the appointed day.

* When her husband Capaneus had been killed in the assault
of the " Seven" upon Thebes, she leaped into the flames of
his pyre.

^ Hero threw herself into the sea after the death of Leander.

• Bellerophon : see 6. 178.

2o6

XL EPITHALAMIUM

Flippodame ^ her wax, Jupiter's swan-daughter her
crown 2 ; for him Dido would have rushed upon the
sword, PhylHs to the halter,^ Evadne into the flames,*
the maid of Sestos into the waves." ^

His mother answered: " I rejoice, my son, that
thou dost both vanquish and praise that stubborn
resister. But the maid's beauty is such that if the
hero whom Sthenoboea loved in bygone days ^ had be-
held her he would not have had to overcome the dread
Chimaera through slighting her charms; he who,
arrogantly proud of his Amazon mother,' spurned the
reckless prayers of his Cretan stepmother, would, if he
had seen the maid, have been doomed indeed, but on a
true charge ; nay, if she had chanced to contend
with me as a fourth competitor in the trial of beauty,
then the shepherd on Rhoetean Ida would have
given his verdict even against me. * Lose the
contest,' he would have said to me, * or, if thou
choosest (and this I prefer), give the girl to me ; '
and I should have given him all that beauty in return
for the prize of beauty. Such are the charm and
comeliness of her cheeks that compared with their
radiance the purple pales into nothingness, and the
gleam of the pearls that encircle her neck is dimmed
to darkness by the light of her countenance. ® Her
also would men have wooed by all manner of exploits,
Pelops attesting his prowess by his chariot, Hip-
pomenes ^ by running, Achelous by wrestling, Aeneas
by wars, Perseus by the Gorgon. Yea, hers is the
beauty for whose sake Jupiter would so oft have

' Hippolytus was the son of Theseus and Hippolyte. queen
of the Amazons.

* The following passage is discussed in Class. Quart. XXVl II
(1934), p. 20.

• See 5. 165-176, 14. 13-15.

307

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Delia, taurus, olor, Satynis, draco, fulmen et
aurum. 90

quare age, iungantur; nam census, forma genusque
conveniunt : nil hie dispar tua fixit harundo.
sed quid vota moror ? " dixit currumque poposcit,
cui dederant crystalla iugum, quae frigore primo,
orbis adhuc teneri glacies ubi Caucason auget, 95
strinxit Hyperboreis Tanaitica crusta pruinis
naturam sumens gemmae quia perdidit undae.
perforat hunc fulvo formatus temo metallo;
miserat hoc fluvius cuius sub gurgite Nymphae
Mygdonium fovere Midam. qui pauper in auro 100
ditavit versis Pactoli flumina votis.
splendet perspicuo radios rota margine cingens
Marmaricae de fauce ferae, dum belua curvis
dentibus excussis gemit exarmarier ora;
misit et hoc munus tepidas qui nudus Erythras, 105
concolor Aethiopi vel crinem pinguis amomo,
fluxus odoratis vexat venatibus Indus,
ilia tamen pasci suetos per Cypron olores
vittata stringit myrto, quis cetera tensis
lactea puniceo sinuantur colla corallo. 110

98. hunc (sc. currum) Mohr : hanc codd. Fortasse legendum
est hoc (sc. iugum: cf. 22. 24) et in sequenii versu hunc (sc.
temonem), ut me monuit W. H. Semple.

^ i.e. Diana. Jupiter assumed this form in order to deceive
Cynosura. The victims of the other disguises mentioned
were (in order) Europa, Leda, Antiope, Mnemosyne (Proser-
pina, according to the usual account, but see 15. 175 sq.),
Semele, Danae. See 15. 174-178. According to Ovid,
Met. VI. 113, in the case of Mnemosyne the appearance
assumed was that of a shepherd.

208

XL EPITHALAMIUM

become the Delian goddess,^ a bull, a swan, a satyr, a
serpent, thunder or gold. So let them be straight-
way united, for they are alike in wealth and beauty
and lineage ; there is naught that is ill-matched in
these victims of thy shaft. But why am I thus
delaying their marriage ? " Thus she spake and
called for her chariot. Its yoke was of crystal,
which in early winter, when the ice of the young
world began to increase the bulk of Caucasus, was
compacted of a piece of the Tanais by dint of the
northern frosts, assuming the nature of a gem because
it lost the nature of water. The car was pierced by
a pole of the yellow metal, metal which had been
sent by the river beneath whose waters the nymphs
fondled Mygdonian Midas, who, poor in the midst of
gold, enriched Pactolus' stream when his prayers
had been turned against him. Brightly gleamed the
wheels, encircling the spokes with translucent rims ;
they were got from the jaws of the Libyan beast,
while the monster bewailed the disarming of his
mouth with the tusks wrenched away. This also
was a gift, sent by the Indian, a man like the Ethio-
pian in hue and with the grease of unguent on his
hair, who troubles warm Erythrae^ as he roams about
naked in his fragrant hunting.^ Her swans, wont to
feed in Cyprus, Venus held firmly with reins of be-
ribboned myrtle ; the rest of their bodies was tense
and taut, but their milk-white necks were bent by a
circlet of red coral.*

2 See 2. 447 n. Here a district rather than a town seems
to be indicated.

3 '* Fragrant hunting " refers to the fragrance cast from
his perfumed hair as he hunts.

* This seems to mean that the reins are attached to a coral
necklet, and the neck is bent back when they are pulled.

209

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Ergo iter aggressi : pendens rota sulcat innnem
aera et in liquido non solvitur orbita tractu.
hie triplex uno comitatur Gratia nexu,
hie redolet patulo Fortunae Copia cornu,
hie spargit calathis, sed flores Flora perennes, 115
hie Cererem Siculam Pharius comitatur Osiris,
hie gravidos Pomona sinus pro tempore portat,
hie Pallas madidis venit inter prela trapetis,
hie distincta latus maculosa nebride Thyias
Indica Echionio Bromii rotat orgia thyrso, 120

hie et Sigeis specubus qui Dindyma ludit
iam sectus recalet Corybas ; cui gutture ravo
ignem per bifores regemunt cava buxa cavernas.

Sic ventum ad thalamos : tus, nardum, balsama,
myrrhae
hie sunt, hie Phoenix busti dat cinnama vivi. 125

proxima quin etiam festorum adflata calore
iam minus alget hiemps, speciemque tenentia vernam
hoc dant vota loco quod non dant tempora mundo.
tum Paphie dextram iuvenis dextramque puellae
compleetens paucis cecinit sollemnia dictis, 130

ne facerent vel verba moram : " feliciter aevum
ducite Concordes ; sint nati sintque nepotes ;
cernat et in proavo sibimet quod pronepos optet."

2IO

XI. EPITHALAMIUM

So they begin their journey: the poised wheel
cleaves the empty air, leaving in the clear expanse
no rut to be smoothed out. Here the three Graces
attend her, linked in a single embrace ; here Plenty
casts fragrance from Fortune's open horn; here
Flora scatters flowers from baskets, flowers ever
blooming ; here Egyptian Osiris accompanies Sicilian
Ceres ; here Pomona carries the folds of her robe loaded
>\'ith the fruits of the season ; here Pallas comes with
oil-mills that are oozing between the presses ; here
the Bacchanal, her side mottled with a dappled fawn-
skin, plies the whirling Indian revelry of Bromius
\\'ith the Theban thyrsus ; here the Corybant too,
who represents the rites of Dindyma in the caves of
Sigeum, unmanned though he now is, feels the old
glow return, and from that hoarse throat the hollowed
box-wood groans out through its double pipe the
fire that is within him.

Thus they come to the bridal; incense, nard,
balm, and myrrh are here; here Phoenix presents
the cinnamon of his living pyre.^ Nay, even the
\\inter so near at hand has felt the warm breath of
the festival and has grown less cold, and the wedding
preserves a suggestion of spring and gives to that
spot a boon which the seasons do not give to the
world. Then the goddess of Paphos, clasping the
right hands of man and maid, chanted the hallowed
blessing in but few words, unwilling that even words
should bring delay : " Pass your lives in happiness
and concord; may ye have children and grand-
children; and may your great-grandchildren see
in their great-grandparents the bliss which they
themselves would fain enjoy ! "

1 See 2. 417 n.

2X1

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

XII
AD V. C. CATVLLINVM

Quid me, etsi valeam, parare carmen
Fescenninicolae iubes Diones
inter crinigeras situm catervas
et Germanica verba sustinentem,
laudantem tetrico subinde vultu 5

quod Burgundio cantat esculentus,
infundens acido comam butyro ?
vis dicam tibi, quid poema frangat?
ex hoc barbaricis abacta plectris
spernit senipedem stilum Thalia, 10

ex quo septipedes videt patronos.
fehces oculos tuos et aures
felicemque libet vocare nasum,
cui non allia sordidumque cepe
ructant mane novo decern apparatus, 15

quem non ut vetulum patris parentem
nutricisque virum die nee orto
tot tantique petunt simul Gigantes,
quot vix Alcinoi culina ferret.

Sed iam Musa tacet tenetque habenas 20

paucis hendecasyllabis iocata,
ne quisquam satiram vel hos vocaret.

14. sordidumque cepe ego: sordidaeque caepae (sepe F)
codd. ; sed desideratur accusativus.

^ Catullinus, who appears to have asked Sidonius to write
an epithalamium, is mentioned in Epist. I. 11, 3 sq., but is
not otherwise known. In that letter, which has reference to
a supposed " satire " of Sidonius, Catullinus plays an amusing
part, and it is fairly obvious that v. 22 contains a reference
to the incident, which occurred at Aries in a.d. 461. The

Xll. TO CATULLINUS

XII
TO CATULLINUS, SENATORS

Why — even supposing I had the skill — do you bid
me compose a song dedicated to Venus the lover of
Fescennine mirth, placed as I am among long-haired
hordes, ha\ing to endure German speech, praising
oft with ^vry face the song of the gluttonous Bur-
gundian who spreads rancid butter on his hair?
Do you want me to tell you what >\Tecks all poetry ?
Driven away by barbarian thrumming the Muse has
spurned the six-footed exercise ever since she beheld
these patrons seven feet high. I am fain to call
your eyes and ears happy, happy too your nose, for
you don't have a reek of garlic and foul onions dis-
charged upon you at early morn from ten break-
fasts, and you are not invaded even before dawn,
like an old grandfather or a foster-father, by a crowd
of giants so many and so big that not even the kitchen
of Alcinous could support them.

But already my Muse is silent and draws rein after
only a few jesting hendecasyllables, lest anyone
should call even these lines satire.

poem may have been written at Aries some time after Catul-
linus had left. The reference to the Burgundians is not quite
clear. Sidonius seems to imply that he was responsible for
feeding a certain number of them. Were they members of a
Burgundian contingent in the forces of Majorian ? Hodgkin
(II. 362), though adoptmg the above view of i'. 21 and the
consequent dating of the poem, conjectures that these verses
were written at Lyons — presumably because Lyons was in
(though not part of) the Burgundian territory ; but he does not
explain the reference to the Burgundian meals. For an account
of various suggested dates and places see Stevens, p. 66, n. L
For the superscription of this poem see n. on Epist. I. 11. 3.

213
VOL. I. K

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

XIII
AD IMPERATOREM MAIORIANVM

Aniphitryoniaden perhibet veneranda vetustas,

dum relevat terras, promeruisse polos,
sed licet in nuda torvus confregerit ulna

ille Cleonaeae guttura rava ferae,
et quamquam ardenti gladio vix straverit hydram, 5

cum duplices pareret vulnere mors animas,
captivumque ferens silva ex Erymanthide monstrum

exarmata feri riserit ora suis,
collaque flammigenae disrumpens fumida furis

tandem directas iusserit ire boves, 10

taurus, cerva, Gigas, hospes, luctator, Amazon,

Cres, canis, Hesperides sint monimenta viri,
nulla tamen fuso prior est Geryone pugna,

uni tergeminum cui tulit ille caput,
haec quondam Alcides ; at tu Tirynthius alter, 15

sed princeps, magni maxima cura dei,
quem draco, cervus, aper paribus sensere sagittis,

cum dens, cum virus, cum fuga nil valuit,
Eurysthea nos esse puta monstrumque tributum ;

hinc capita, ut vivam, tu mihi tolle tria. 20

3. sed Mohr : et.

19. Eurysthea ego : hystriones (histr.). Vid. Class. Quart.
loc.cU. p. 20.

20. hinc Luetjohann : hie.

^ Majorian had punished the rebellious Gallo-Romans in
Lyons by levying a heavy tax. The method adopted was
apparently to assess each man on an increased number of
capita (property-units on which taxation was calculated).
The " three heads " in this poem seem to mean that the taxes
were trebled; or they may even have been quadrupled by
the addition of three capita to every former one. Sidonius here
pleads for a remission on behalf of himself and (less obviously)
of others. His appeal was probably successful, otherwise he
214

XIII. TO MAJORIAN

XIII

TO THE EMPEROR MAJORIAN i

Hallowed antiquity records that the son of Amphi-
tryon by succouring earth earned heaven as his re-
ward. But although with grim look he crushed within
his bare arms the tawny ^ throat of the monster of
Cleonae ; although with his fiery sword he just
availed to lay the hydra low, as one death ever
brought forth two lives from the wound ; although he
carried the captured monster from the Erymanthian
forest, laughing at the wild boar's disarmed mouth;
and although, bursting open the smoking neck of the
fire-born thief, he compelled the cows at last to go
frontwise ; although the bull, the deer, the giant,
the host, the ^vrestler, the Amazon, the Cretan beast,
the dog, and the Hesperides ^ are memorials of the
hero's prowess — yet none of his fights takes rank
before the overthrow of Geryon, from whose one body
he took three heads. Thus Alcides of old ; but do
thou, as a second Hercules, and our sovereign to boot,
and our great God's greatest care — thou, whose
arrows made snake, stag, and boar alike to feel thy
prowess,* when tooth, poison, and flight availed them
not — deem us to be Eurystheus ^ and the tax to be
the monster, and favour me by taking from it three
heads, that I may be able to hve.

would scarcely have included it in his collected poems. It was
probably written very soon after the Panegyric.

* This is probably the meaning of rava hero. There is
another word ravtis, meaning "hoarse," "rough -voiced"
(= raucus) : see Epist. VIII. 11.3 carm. 49 ; ib. IX. 2. 2. The
meaning of the word in Horace is disputed ; see commentators
on C. III. 27. 3, Epod. XVI. 33, and G. Ramain in Revue de
Phildogie Ser. III. T. IX (1935), pp. 358-360.

3 Of. 9. 95-98 n. * For this exploit of Majorian see 5. 153 sq.

* The king who ordered the labours of Hercules.

215

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Has supplex famulus preces dicavit
responsum opperiens pium ac salubre.
ut reddas patriam simulque vitam
Lugdunum exonerans suis ruinis,
hoc te Sidonius tuus precatur : 25

sic te Sidonio recocta fuco
multos purpura vestiat per annos;
sic lustro imperii perennis acto
quinquennalia fascibus dicentur;
sic ripae duplicis tumore fracto 30

detonsus Vachalim bibat Sygamber.
quod si contuleris tuo poetae,
mandem perpetuis legenda fastis
quaecumque egregiis geris triumphis.
nam nunc Musa loquax tacet tribute, 35

quae pro Vergilio Terentioque
sextantes legit unciasque fisci,
Marsyaeque timet manum ac rudentem,
qui Phoebi ex odio vetustiore
nunc suspendia vatibus minatur. 40

XIV

SIDONIVS POLEMIO SVO SALVTEM

1. Dum post profectionem tuam, mi Polemi, frater
amantissime, me cum granditer reputo quatenus in
votis tuis philosophi Fescennina cantarem, obrepsit

^ mandem, a good instance of present subjunctive for future
indicative. There are several examples of this in Sidonius.

^ A reference not only to the well-known legend of Apollo
and Marsyas, but to Marsyas as symbolising the law (from the
statue of Marsyas in the Roman Forum near the law-courts).

2l6

XIV. SIDONIUS TO POLEMIUS

This petition thy suppliant servant has offered,
waiting for a kind and Hfe-giving answer. That thou
mayest give him back his native town and his life
withal, releasing Lugdunum from its fallen estate —
this thy Sidonius craves of thee : so may the purple,
redipped in Sidonian dye, clothe thee for many a
year ; so, when thou hast completed a lustre of thine
everlasting reign, may a quinquennial festival be
consecrated to thy rule ; so may the Sygambrian,
when the commotion on both banks has been quelled,
drink the waters of Vachalis with head, shorn in
humiliation. If thou grant this to thy poet, I will
commit^ to history's undying records, to be read of
mankind, all the exploits of thy glorious triumphs. J
For now my talkative muse is silenced by the tax, and
culls instead of Virgil's and Terence's lines the pence
and halfpence owed to the Exchequer, and fears
the hand and rope of Marsyas,- who from his old-time
hatred of Phoebus now threatens bards with hanging.

XIV

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND POLEMIUS,^
GREETING

1. My devoted brother Polemius,

After your departure I considered carefully
how far I was entitled to sing a Fescennine strain in
celebrating the wedding of a philosopher like you.

' Polemius, a descendant of the historian Tacitus, became
Praetorian Prefect of Gaul (perhaps a.d. 471-2, less probably
after 475 : see Stevens, p. 197), and held office for two years.
See E'pisi. IV. 14, which is addressed to him.

217

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

materia, qua decursa facile dinosci valet magis me
doctrinae quam causae tuae habuisse rationem.
omissa itaque epithalamii teneritudine per asper-
rimas philosophiae et salebrosissimas regulas ^ stilum
traxi ; quarum talis ordo est ut sine plurimis no\is
verbis, quae praefata pace reliquorum eloquentum
specialiter tibi et Complatonicis tuis nota sunt,
migae ipsae non valuerint expediri. 2. videris,
utrum aures quorundam per imperitiam temere
mentionem centri, proportionis, diastematum, cli-
matum vel myrarum epithalamio conducibilem non
putent. illud certe consulari viro vere Magno,
quaestorio viro Domnulo, spectabili viro Leone
ducibus audacter adfirmo, musicam et astrologiam,
quae sunt infra arithmeticam consequentia membra
philosophiae, nullatenus posse sine hisce nominibus
indicari; quae si quispiam ut Graeca, sicut sunt, et
peregrina verba contempserit, noverit sibi aut
semper ^ huiuscemodi artis mentione supersedendum
aut nihil omnino se aut certe non ad assem Latiari
lingua hinc posse disserere. 3. quod si aliqui ^
secus atque assero rem se habere censuerint, do
quidem absens obtrectatoribus manus ; sed noverint
sententiam meam discrepantia sentientes sine Marco

' regiunculas Stangl, regiones Buecheler.

2 semper Buecheler : super.

^ aliqui . . . censuerint ego : aliquis . . . censuerit.

^ Magnus : 23. 455 n. Domnulus : 5. 570 n. Leo :
9. 314 n. The spectabiles ranked between the irUustres and

2l8

XIV. SIDONIUS TO POLEMIUS

The subject of the poem then crept into my mind,
and now that it is completed it is easily seen that I
have taken more notice of your learning than of the
happy occasion. Thus I have abandoned the melting
tones of the nuptial song and trailed my pen over
the roughest and most stony teachings of philosophy,
which are so constituted that even a trifling effort
like this could not have been accomplished without a
large number of the new words which (with apologies
to all other stylists) are known in a special degree to
you and your fellow-Plat onists. 2. You shall judge
whether certain persons' ears, owing to inexperience,
imagine too hastily that the mention of " centrum,"
" proportio," " diastemata," " climata," " m)rrae,"
is unsuited to a marriage-poem. This at least I
confidently affirm, following the lead of Magnus, a
consular and a man as great as his name, Domnulus,
of quaestorian rank, and the Eminent Leo,^ that
music and astronomy, the branches of philosophy
which come next in importance to arithmetic, cannot
in the least be made intelligible without these terms ;
and if anyone look down on them, as being Greek
and foreign expressions (which they are), let him be
assured that he must for ever renounce all mention
of this sort of science or else that he cannot treat the
subject at all, or at least that he cannot treat it com-
pletely, in the Latin tongue. 3. Should some people
maintain that the facts are not as I declare them to
be, I surrender to those cavillers whom I cannot meet
face to face; nevertheless. I would have all who
differ from me know that my opinion cannot be
condemned without condemning Marcus Varro,

the clarissimi in the official hierarchy. See Hodgkin I, 603,
620, Bury I. 19.

219

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Varrone, sine Sereno, non Septimio, sed Sammonico,
sine Censorino, qui de die natali volumen illustre
confecit, non posse damnari. 4. lecturus es hie
etiam novum verbum, id est essentiam; sed scias
hoc ipsum dixisse Ciceronem; nam essentiam nee
non et indoloriam nominavit, addens : " licet enim
novis rebus nova nomina imponere " ; et recte dixit,
nam sicut ab eo quod est verbi gratia sap ere et
intellegere sapientiam et intellegentiam
nominamus, regulariter et ab eo quod est esse
essentiam non tacemus. igitur, quoniam tui
amoris studio inductus homo Gallus scholae
sophisticae intromisi materiam, vel te potissimum
facti mei deprecatorem requiro. illi Venus vel
Amorum commenticia pigmenta tribuantur cui
defuerit sic posse laudari. vale.

PRAEFATIO EPITHALAMII DICTI POLEMIO
ET ARANEOLAE

Prosper conubio dies coruscat,
quem Clotho niveis benigna pensis,

^ See 9. 267. The Serenus Sanimonicus here referred to
is the elder of that name, a very learned man, who was put
to death by CaraeaUa. His son was a poet, and is usually
identified with Quintus (or Quintius ? See Vollmer's ed., p. 3)
Serenus, the author of a still extant medical treatise in verse.

2 Seneca {Epist. 58. 6) confirms Sidonius about essentia ;
but the word is not found in any extant work of Cicero.
According to Quintilian (II. 14. 2, III. 6. 23, VTTT. 3, 33^

XIV. PREFACE TO EPITHALAMIUM

Serenus (Sammonicus, not Septimius ^), and Censori-
nus, the author of a fine book " On the natal Day."
4. Here also you are going to read a novel word,
essentia ; but you must note that Cicero himself has
used that word ; for he introduced the two terms
essentia and indoloria,^ adding: " for it is allowable
to apply new names to new notions." And he was
quite right, for just as we form, for example, the
nouns sapientia and intellegentia from sapere and
intellegere, so quite legitimately we do not refrain
from using essentia from esse. Therefore, since my
interest in your love-affair has led me, a man of
Gaul, to introduce such matter as belongs to the
philosophical lecture-room, I claim you in a special
degree as intercessor on my behalf. Let Venus and
all the fictitious gallery of love-gods be bestowed on
one who cannot be eulogised in the manner of this
poem. Farewell.

PREFACE TO THE EPITHALAMIUM

ADDRESSED TO POLEMIUS AND

ARANEOLA ^

Auspicious for the marriage gleams the day, a
day for a kindly Clotho to distinguish with snow-

essentia (a translation of ovaia, " being") was first used by a
philosopher called Plautus (this seems to be the correct form,
but the MSS. vary). Cicero uses ivdolentia, but it is scarcely
credible that he ever used indoloria. Both these words are
renderings of the Greek word dvoAyT/ata, "insensibility,"
literally "freedom from pain." The form indoloria is used
by Jerome and Augustine.
' For Araneola see n. on 9. b.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

albus quern picei lapillus Indi,

quem pacis simul arbor et iuventae

aeternumque virens oliva signet. 5

eia, Calliope, nitente palma

da sacri laticis loquacitatem,

quem fodit pede Pegasus volanti

cognato madidus iubam veneno.

non hie impietas, nee hanc puellam 10

donat mortibus ambitus procorum;

non hie Oenomai cruenta circo

audit pacta Pelops nee insequentem

pallens Hippomcnes ad ima metae

tardat Schoenida ter cadente pome; 15

non hie Herculeas videt palaestras

Aetola Calydon stupens ab arce,

cum cornu fluvii superbientis

Alcides premeret, subinde fessum

undoso refovens ab hoste pectus ; 20

sed doctus iuvenis decensque virgo,

ortu culmina Galliae tenentes,

iunguntur : cito, diva, necte chordas

nee, quod detonuit Camena maior,

nostram pauperiem silere cogas. 25

ad taedas Thetidis probante Phoebo

et Chiron cecinit minore plectro,

nee risit pia turba rusticantem,

quamvis saepe senex biformis illic

carmen rumperet hinniente cantu. 30

^ For this proverbial expression (said to be derived from the
Thracian custom of putting a white pebble in an urn to mark
a lucky day) see commentators on Horace, Odes I. 36. 10,
Conington on Persius II. 1. In Martial, whom Sidonius here

222

XIV. PREFACE TO EPITHALAMIUM

white thread, a day to be marked by the white stone
of the black Indian ^ and by the ohve ever fresh and
green, tree at once of peace and of youth. Ho,
Calliope ! With thy radiant hand deliver to me the
eloquence of the sacred spring which Pegasus dug
out with his flying foot when his mane was wet with
his mother's poison. Here there is no unnatural
enmity ; this girl is not being bestowed through the
deaths of rival suitors. Here no Pelops listens to the
bloody terms of Oenomaus ^ in the racing-ground ;
no Hippomenes ^ pale with dread at the lower turning-
point of the course retards the maid of Schoenus with
thrice-falling apple ; not here does Calydon behold
in amazement from her Aetolian height the wrestling
of Hercules, when he forced dovm the horn of the arro-
gant river, refreshing his breast ever and anon from
his watery foe.* Nay, a learned young scholar and a
comely maid, holding by right of birth the most
exalted eminence in Gaul, are being united. Quick,
goddess, string the lyre, nor compel my poor talent
to keep silence because a greater Muse ^ hath sent
forth thundering strains. At the marriage of Thetis,
with Apollo's approval, even Chiron made music
with lesser quill, nor did the kindly company laugh at
his rustic style, although oft the aged double-formed
creature broke his song with a whinnying note.®

imitates, the stones become pearls (Indicis lapiUis I. 109. 4;
cf. X. 38. 5; see also VIII. 45. 2, XL 36. 1).

* See 2. 491 n.

3 Cf. 2. 494-^96, 5. 167-176, 11. 87.

* See 2. 497-499 n.

* The identity of this " greater Muse " is unknown.
« Cf. 1. 19 sq.

223

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

XV

EPITHALAMIVM

Forte procellosi remeans ex arce Capherei,
Phoebados Iliacae raptum satis ulta pudorem,
Pallas Erechtheo Xanthum mutabat Hymetto.
aiirato micat acre caput, maiusque serenum
de terrore capit; posito nam fulmine necdum 5

Cinyphio Tritone truces hilaraverat artus.
Gorgo tenet pectus medium, factura videnti
et truncata moras ; nitet insidiosa superbum
effigies vivitque anima pereunte venustas ;
alta cerastarum spirLs caput asperat atrum 10

congeries, torquet maculosa volumina mordax
crinis, et irati dant sibila taetra capilli.
squameus ad mediam thorax non pervenit alvum
post chalybem pendente peplo ; tegit extima limbi
circite palla pedes, qui cum sub veste moventur, 15
crispato rigidae crepitant in syrmate rugae,
laevam parma tegit Phlegraei plena tumultus:
hie rotat excussum vibrans in sidera Pindum
Enceladus, rabido fit missilis Ossa Typhoeo ;
Porphyrion Pangaea rapit, Rhodopenque Damastor
Strymonio cum fonte levat, veniensque superne 21
intorto calidum restinguit flumine fulmen;
hie Pallas Pallanta petit, cui Gorgone visa
19. rabido Mohr et Lueijohann : rapido.

1 See 5. 196 n.

* Tritonis (palus) was a lake in N. Africa, now impossible to
identify with certainty. It was near the Lesser Syrtes, with
which it seems to have been united by a river, also called
Tritonis. The lake is often associated with Pallas Athena,
who is called Tpiroyeveia, Tritonia, and Tritonis (see 7. 198 and
below, V. 179). One legend made her a daughter of the lake-
nymph, another said that she was born on the shores of the lake.
224

XV. EPITHALAMIUM

XV

EPITHALAMIUM

It chanced that Pallas was returning from the peak
of storm-swept Caphereus ^ ; she had avenged to the
full the ravished honour of Apollo's Trojan votary,
and now she was abandoning Xanthus for Athenian
Hymettus. Her head sparkles with gilded bronze,
and she begins to show a more serene aspect after
her frightfulness ; for she has laid aside the thunder-
bolt, though she has not yet gladdened her fierce
limbs with the waters of African Tritonis.^ The
Gorgon covers the middle of her breast, with power
still to make the beholder motionless, though the
head be severed. Proudly shines that guileful form,
and its beauty still lives though life is ebbing. The
dark head bristles with a towering swarm of twisting
vipers ; those fanged tresses tangle their spotted
coils, those angry locks utter horrible hisses. The
corselet of scale-armour worn by the goddess reaches
not to the waist ; where the steel ceases her robe
hangs dovm ; the end of her cloak covers her feet
>vith its circling hem, and when they move under her
raiment there is a rustling of the stiff folds in the
crimped trailing mantle. Her left hand is covered
by a shield filled with a likeness of the Phlegraean
fray. In one part Enceladus brandishes Pindus,
torn from its base, and sends it whirling to the stars,
while Ossa is the missile of frenzied Typhoeus;
Porphyrion snatches up Pangaeus, Damastor lifts up
Rhodope along with Strymon's spring, and when the
glowing thunderbolt comes down he hurls the river at
it and quenches it. In another part Pallas assails
Pallas, but he has seen the Gorgon, and her spear is

223

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

invenit solidum iam lancea tarda cadaver ;
hie Lemnon pro fratre Mimas contra aegida
torquet, 25

impulsimique quatit iaculabilis insula caelum;
plurimus hie Briareus populoso corpore pugnat,
cognatam portans aciem, cui vertice ab uno
eernas ramosis palmas fruticare lacertis.
nee species solas monstris, dedit arte furorem 30
Mulciber atque ipsas timuit quas finxerat iras.
hastam dextra tenet, nuper quam valle Aracynthi
ipsa sibi posita Pallas protraxit oliva.
hoc steterat genio, super ut vestigia divae
labentes teneat Marathonia baca trapetas. 35

Hie duo templa micant ; quorum supereminet unus
ut mentis sic sede locus, qui continet alta
scrutantes ratione viros quid machina caeli,
quid tellus, quid fossa maris, quid turbidus aer,
quid noctis lucisque vices, quid menstrua lunae 40
incrementa parent, totidem cur damna sequantur.

^ Pallas Athena is elsewhere said to have flayed Pallas the
giant. See Apollodonis I. 6. 2 with Sir J. G. Frazer's note
(vol. I. p. 46 n. 1 in this series).

* The digression on the shield ends here. Failure to notice
this has led to serious misunderstanding of the next four
lines, although Sidonius has taken pains to make things
clear : hastam dextra tenet is contrasted with laetxim parma
tegit (v. 17).

^ M. Aracynthus was in Aetolia, but Sidonius seems to
follow Virgil in placing it on the borders of Attica and Boeotia :
see Conington (ed. 5) and Page on Virgil, Ec. II. 24.

* The olive.

^ The poet imagines a site in or near Athens (the Acropolis ?)
where there are two adjoining temples consecrated to Pallas
Athena, goddess of wisdom and of arts and crafts. The first
temple is a home of philosophy, where Polemius learns all
the doctrines of the sages ; the second (described in tw. 126 sqq.)

226

XV. EPITHALAMIUM

already too late, and encounters a solid corpse.^
Elsewhere is seen Mimas flinging Lemnos against
the aegis in a brother's defence, while the island-
missile shakes heaven with its impact. In yet
another part is the multiple Briareus with his much-
peopled body joining in the fray, carrying in his
person a whole host all akin ; you could see his hands
on branching arms sprouting from a single source.
To these monsters Vulcan had given by his skill not
only forms but frenzy, so that he trembled at the
very MTath which his art had counterfeited.^ The
right hand of Pallas held a spear, which she herself
had lately plucked in the vale of Aracynthus ^ from an
olive she had planted Arrayed in all this glory she
had now alighted, and where the feet of the goddess
rested there arose the Marathonian berry * to take
possession of the gliding mills

Here two temples ^ gleam forth, both in the same
region, a region exalted alike in situation and in
achievements, for it contains the men who by thought
profound inquire what the fabric of the sky, the earth,
the sunken sea, the tempestuous air, the alternations
of day and night, and the monthly waxing of the moon
bring to pass, and why the waxing is ever followed by

is devoted to the textile arts, and there Araneola sits, doing
wonderful embroidery. Her subjects are mostly taken from
the love-stories of mythology. The goddess indicates that
she prefers the subjects which are cultivated in the other
temple; whereupon Araneola mischievously begins to depict
a philosopher (Diogenes the Cynic) in a ridiculous situation.
The goddess, unable to restrain a smile, says, " You are not
going to laugh at philosophers any longer; you are going to
marry one." For an ingenious but unconvincing attempt
to identify and locate the two " temples " see A. von Premer-
stein in Jahresh. d. osterr. arch. Inst. XV (1912), pp. 28-35.
He seriously misunderstands w. 36 £.

227

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

ilicet hie summi resident septem sapientes,
innumerabilium primordia philosopher um :
Thales Mileto genitus vadimonia damnat;
Lindie tu Cleobule iubes modus optimus ut sit ; 45
tu meditans totum decoras, Periandre, Corinthon ;
Atticus inde Solon " ne quid nimis " approbat unuin ;
Prienaee Bia, plures ais esse malignos ;
tu Mytilene satus cognoscere, Pittace, tempus,
noscere sese ipsum, Chilon Spartane, docebas ; 50
asserit hie Samius post docta silentia lustri
Pythagoras solidum princeps quod musica mundum
temperet et certis concent um reddat ab astris,
signaque zodiacus quae circulus axe supremo
terna quater retinet proprio non currere motu, 55
acquis inter se spatiis tamen esse locata
fixaque signifero pariter quoque cernua ferri,
praecipuumque etiam septem vaga sidera cantum
hinc dare, perfectus numerus quod uterque habeatur,
hoc numero adfirmans, hoc ordine cuncta rotari : 60
falciferi zonam ire senis per summa polorum,
Martis contiguum medio love pergere sidus,
post hos iam quarto se flectere tramite Solem,
sic placidam Paphien servare diastema quintum,
Arcadium sextum, Lunam sic orbe supremo 65

59. utique P fortasse ex utrimque ortum : vid. Class. Qvurt.
loc. cit.p. 21. 61. zonam Mohr : c(h)ronon.

65. sextum ego : sexto ; vid. Class. Quart, ib.

228

XV. EPITHALAMIUM

the waning. Here, then, are enthroned the Seven
Sages, the sources of numberless philosophers.^
Thales of Miletus condemns the giving of sureties ;
Cleobulus of Lindus bids moderation be our ideal;
Periander glorifies Corinth as he practises every-
thing; then Solon of Athens approves above all
the saying, " Nothing to excess " ; Bias of Priene
says that the evil-hearted are the majority ; Pittacus,
that son of Mitylene, taught this lesson — to mark
the opportune time, and Spartan Chilo to know one-
self. Here the Samian Pythagoras declares, after a
philosophic silence of five years, that music is the
prime regulator of the universe and gives it a
harmony from the unvarying movement of the stars,
and that the thrice four signs that the Zodiac-belt
holds in high heaven run not on with their own
separate motion, but are placed at equal intervals
one from another and, being fixed in the sign-
bearing belt, are borne -vvith it in descending move-
ment ; also that the seven wandering stars give
forth the finest music because in planets and notes
alike a perfect number is present. He says that by
this number the universe is whirled round, and in
this arrangement : the circle of the old Sickle-
bearer 2 traverses the highest regions of the firma-
ment; next, save that Jupiter comes between, the
star of Mars wends its way; after these the Sun
winds along the fourth path; in like manner the
gentle goddess of Paphos ^ retains the fifth zone, the
Arcadian * the sixth ; and the moon in the last circle

1 Cf. 2. 156 sqq.

^ Saturn.

' Venus.

* Mercury : see 1. 7 n.

229

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

ter denas tropico prope currere climate myras.
si quos ergo chelys, si quos lyra, tibia si quos
ediderint cum voce modos, exemplar ad istud
ponderibus positis, quantum proportio suadet,
intervalla sequi septeni sideris edit ; 70

harmoniam dicens etiam quod quattuor istis
sic sedeant elementa modis ut pondere magnis
sit locus inferior media tellure (quod autem
perfecte medium est, imum patet esse rotundi) ;
hinc fieri ut terram levior superemicet unda, 75

altior his quoque sit qui purior eminet aer,
omnia concludat caelum levitate suprema,
pendeat et totum simul hoc ab origine centri.
Thales hie etiam numeris perquirit et astris
defectum ut Phoebi nee non Lunaeque laborem 80
nuntiet anterius ; sed rebus inutile ponit
principium, dum credit aquis subsistere mundum.
huius discipuli versa est sententia dicens
principiis propriis semper res quasque creari,
singula qui quosdam fontes decernit habere 85

aeternum irriguos ac rerum semine plenos.

^ Myrae or moerae are segments of the zodiacal circle, which
extends from tropic to tropic. The sun traverses thirty of these
in about a month. Had Sidonius been speaking of the sun there
would have been no difficulty ; but he seems to be confusing
these solar degrees with the (approximately) 30 days of the
moon's monthly revolution.

2 Anaximander ; but Sidonius in this passage gives a rough
summary of doctrines usually associated with Anaxagoras :
the primal chaos contained an infinite number of particles,
or "seeds" of things; these became separated off, hke be-
coming united with hke {e.g. gold particles with gold particles) :
everything in the world consists predominantly of particles of
the same nature as itself (miniatures of itself as it were) — this
is the doctrine of homoiomereia, as it was called by Aristotle
and others. The process of change in individual things is

230

XV. EPITHALAMIUM

runs on through nearly thirty degrees within the
cHme of the tropics.^ Thus all the tones that have
been given forth by harp and lyre and flute and voice
follow, he declares, the intervals of the seven planets,
the pitch of the sounds being assigned after this
pattern according to the dictates of proportion. He
also calls by the name of harmony the arrangement
of the four elements, which are so placed that those
of great weight have the lowest place in the earth
at the centre (It is clear that in a round shape what
is absolutely the middle must be the lowest part) ;
hence it comes about that water, which is lighter,
springs up above the land, and higher than both is
air, which is purer and thus soars over them, while
sky, with its extreme lightness, encloses all these,
and at the same time this whole universe takes its
poise from the centre. In this temple also Thales
inquires by calculations concerning the heavenly
bodies how to announce beforehand the eclipse of the
sun and the travail of the moon ; but he assigns to
things a vain first principle, believing that the
universe is evolved from water. His pupil ^ takes
a contrary view; he says that everything is always
created from its own peculiar first-beginnings, and
he holds that individual entities have, as it were,
springs ever flowing and full of the seeds of things.

always going on : by addition or separation something quite
different may be produced, owing to tlie predominance of
another type of particle. This may be the meaning of w.
85 sq.; but the language is vague and might be variously
interpreted. The ancients often attribute Anaxagorean doc-
trines to Anaximander, and it is not easy to draw a rigid line
between the tenets of the two philosophers ; but Anaxagoras
seems really to have been more influenced by Anaximenes than
by Anaximander.

231

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

hunc etiam sequitur qui gignere cuncta putabat
hunc aerem pariterque deos sic autumat ortos.
quartus Anaxagoras Thaletica dogmata servat,
sed divinum animum sentit, qui fecerit orbem. 90
iunior huic iunctus residet collega, sed idem
materiam cunctis creaturis aera credens
iudicat inde deum, faceret quo cuncta, tulisse.
post hos Arcesilas divina mente paratam
conicit banc molem, confectam partibus illis 95

quas atomos vocat ipse leves. Socratica post hunc
secta micat, quae de naturae pondere migrans
ad mores hominum limandos transtulit usum.
banc sectam perhibent summum excoluisse Platona,
sed triplici formasse modo, dum primus et unus 100
physica vel logico, logicum vel iungit ad ethos,
invenit hie princeps quid prima essentia distet
a summo sextoque bono : cum denique saxa
sint tantum penitusque nihil nisi esse probentur;
proxima succedant, quibus esse et vivere promptum
est, 105

addere quis possis nil amplius, arbor et herba;
tertia sit pecorum, quorum esse et vivere motu
non caret et sensu ; mortales quart a deinde
respiciat factura suos, quibus esse, moveri,
vivere cum sensu datur, et supereminet illud, 110
88. hunc aerem dej. Brakman. 104. nisi id, esse Leo.

^ Anaximenes.

2 It is difficult to guess why Sidonius thought that Anaxa-
goras upheld the doctrines of Thales.

^ This seems to refer to Diogenes of Apollonia, but he cer-
tainly did not regard God as a creator essentially distinct
from the air out of which all else is created.

* Arcesilas should be Archelaus.

^ See n. on 2. 173. There is no reason for attributing this
triple division of philosophy to Socrates or Plato. It may have

232

XV. EPITHALAMIUM

He is followed by one ^ who thought that our air
produces all things, and who declares that the gods
also have a like origin. Fourth in the line is Anaxa-
goras, who upholds the dogmas of Thales ^ but feels
the presence of a divine mind, creator of the world.
Next to him sits a younger colleague,^ but he,
believing air to be the substance from which all
creatures come, judges that thence God derived
the wherewithal to create everything. After
them Arcesilas ^ guesses that this great world-
mass is produced by a divine mind but is made
up of those particles which he himself calls light
atoms. After him shines forth the Socratic school,
which passed from nature's massive fabric and
transferred its practice to enhancing the moral life
of mankind. This school they say the peerless
Plato adorned, but he moulded it after a triple
pattern,^ being an unmatched pioneer in his joining
of physics to logic and logic to ethics. He is the first
to discover how great is the distance between the
first essence and the sixth and highest good.^ For
stones, he says, do but exist, and are clearly proved
to do naught but exist ; next come those things which
manifestly both exist and live, but to which you
could ascribe no further attribute, trees and plants ;
the third kind of being is found in the beasts, in
whom existing and living are accompanied by
motion and sensation; next the fourth creation
favours his own fellow-mortals, to whom are given
the gifts of existence, movement, life, and sensation,
whereto is added the crowning gift of discernment

been first formulated by Xenocrates, but was first emphasised
by the Stoics. See Reid on Cic. Ac. I. 19.

• Needless to say, Plato never propounded this doctrine.

233

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quod sapiunt veroque valent discernere falsum;
quinta creaturas superas substantia prodat,
quas quidam dixere deos, quia corpora sumant
contemplanda homini, paulo post ipsa relinquant
inque suam redeant, si qua est tenuissima, formam —
sic fieri ut pateat substantia summa creator, 116

sexta tamen supraque nihil, sed cuncta sub ipso,
hoc in gymnasio Polemi sapientia vitam
excoht adiunctumque suo fovet ipsa Platoni ;
obviet et quamquam totis Academia sectis 120

atque neget verum, veris hunc laudibus ornat.
Stoica post istos, sed concordantibus ipsis,
Chrysippus Zenonque docent praecepta tenere.
exclusi prope iam Cynici, sed limine restant;
ast Epicureos eliminat undique Virtus. 125

At parte ex alia textrino prima Minervae
palla lovis rutilat, cuius bis coctus aeno
serica Sidonius fucabat stamina murex.
ebria nee solum spirat conchylia sandix;
insertum nam fulgur habet, filoque rigenti 130

ardebat gravidum de fragmine fulminis ostrum.
hie viridis patulo Glaucus pendebat amictu ;
undabant hie arte sinus, fictoque tumore
mersabat pandas tempestas texta carinas.
Amphitryoniadi surgebat tertia vestis : 135

parvulus hie gemino cinctus serpente novercae

119. adiunctumque PF : adiunctamque. Vid. Class. Quart,
loc. cit. p. 21.

132. patulo ego: patruo CP, glauco patruo F, patrio T:
proprio Leo, prasino Purgold.

^ A good example of the weakened force of tamen, common
in late Latin. See Schmalz-Hofmann, Synt. p. 672, and the
authorities there cited, especially Lofstedt, Komm. 27-33.

^ i.e. probably Polemius, possibly Plato.

234

XV. EPITHALAMIUM

and power to distinguish false from true; the fifth
class reveals the created beings that dwell on high,
whom some have called gods, because they assume
bodies that man can view but soon abandon them and
return to their own form, a form of the most ethereal
fineness : thus he says it comes to pass that the
liighest being is shown to be the creator ; he is, then,^
the sixth, and there is naught above him, but all else
is beneath him. In this school Philosophy ennobles
the life of Polemius and herself fosters him close to
her own son Plato; and although the Academy
opposes all sects by denying that truth exists, that
sect extols him^ with praises that are true. After
them, but now in harmony one with the other,
Chrysippus and Zeno teach adherence to the Stoic
doctrines. The Cynics are by this time almost shut
out, but they linger on the threshold; as for the
Epicureans, Virtue ejects them from every part.

On the other side is Minerva's weaving-hall.
Here the robe of Jupiter first shows its ruddy gleam ;
Sidonian purple twice boiled in the cauldron coloured
the silken threads, and the deep-dyed red showed
not only the sheen of purple, for the gleam of light-
ning was intermingled, and a blaze came from the
stiff threads where the purple was weighted ^vith a
broken levin-shaft.^ Here also hung a likeness of
jrreen Glaucus in a spreading mantle ; here art had
fashioned his billowing robe, and an inwoven storm
with mimic swelling was submerging curved sliips.
The third garment that rose before the eyes was
dedicated to Amphitryon's son. Here the infant,
encircled by the two serpents sent by his stepdame,*

' i.e. a representation of lightning wrought in gold thread.
* See 7. 582 n.

235

THE POEMS OF SIDONTUS

inscius arridet monstris ludumque putando
insidias, dum nescit, amat vultuque dolentis
exstingui deflet quos ipse interficit angues.
praeterea sparsis sunt haec subiecta figuris : 140

sus, leo, cerva, Gigans, taurus, iuga, Cerberus, hydra,
hospes,Nessus,Eryx, volucres, Thrax, Cacus, Amazon,
Cres, fluvius. Libs, poma, Lycus, virgo, polus, Oete.
hoc opus, et si quid superest quod numina vestit,
virgineae posuere manus. sed in agmine toto 145
inter Cecropias Ephyreiadasque puellas
Araneola micat ; proprias conferre laborat
ipsa Minerva manus, calathisque evicta recedens
cum tenet haec telas vult haec plus tela tenere.
hie igitur proavi trabeas imitata rigentes 150

palmatam parat ipsa patri, qua consul et idem
Agricolam contingat avum doceatque nepotes
non abavi solum sed avi quoque iungere fasces,
texuerat tamen et chlamydes, quibus ille magister
per Tartesiacas conspectus splenduit urbes 155

et quibus ingestae sub tempore praefecturae
conspicuus sanctas reddit se praesule leges.
attamen in trabea segmento luserat alto

144. numina Wilamowitz : nomina.

1 Cf. 9. 95-98.

* The meaning of trabea in later Imperial writers is a vexed
question, but these words strongly confirm the view that it
was strictly a synonym of tunica palmata (see 2. 6 n.) : cf.
Auson. 322. 92, iit trabeam pictamque togam, mea praemia,
consul induerer. The word is also used in a less precise way
to denote the consular vestments in general. In 7. 384 it is
still more loosely used of the dictator's garb (which was,
it is true, the same as the consul's; but in republican times
the consul wore the toga praetexta, as did all other cunile
magistrates, and had no distinctive tunica). In 23. 174
the plural is used for " robes of state."

236

XV. EPITIIALAMIUM

smiles in all innocence upon the monsters and,
taking the guileful menace as a game, loves them in
his ignorance, and \vith a countenance of grief
bewails the dying of the snakes he himself slays.
Moreover, there are added in scattered figures
these likenesses — the boar, the lion, the deer, the
giant, the bull, the yoke, Cerberus, the hydra, the
host, Nessus, Eryx, the birds, the Thracian, Cacus,
the Amazon, the Cretan beast, the river, the Libyan,
the apples, the Lycian, the maid, the sky, and Oeta.^
This work and all other vestures fit for gods have
been set up in that place by maidens' hands. But
amid the whole multitude, among all the damsels
of Athens and of Corinth, Araneola shines out.
Minerva herself strives to match her own hands with
hers, but retires beaten from the work-baskets,
and when Araneola holds the web she herself prefers
to hold weapons. So here this maid copies the stifF-
broidered consular vestment of her great-grandfather,
making with her own hands a palm-decked robe ^ for
her father, wherewith he, a consul likewise, shall
match his grandfather Agricola ^ and teach his grand-
children to link up in their chain of consulships their
grandsire as well as their grandsire's grandsire.
She had also woven the mantles in which he as Master
shone before all eyes in the cities of Spain and in
which conspicuous, when the prefecture was thrust
upon him, he dispensed the hallowed laws from the
president's seat. But on a high strip of broidery
upon the consular robe she had playfully fashioned

' Agricola was Praetorian Prefect of Gaul twice (his second
term of office was in a.tj. 418) and consul in 421. He may have
])een an ancestor, possibly even the father, of the Emperor
Avitua, who had a son named Agricola. See also n. on 23. 455.

237

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quod priscis inlustre toris. Ithacesia primum
fabula Dulichiique lares formantur et ipsam 160

Penelopam tardas texit distexere telas.
Taenaron hie frustra bis rapt a coniuge puis at
Thrax fidibus, legem postquam temeravit Averni,
et prodesse putans iterum non respicit umbram.
hie vovet Alceste praelato coniuge vitam 165

rumpere, quam cernas Parearum vellere in ipso
nondum pernetam fato restante salute,
hie nox natarum Danai lucebat in auro,
quinquaginta enses genitor quibus impius aptat
et dat eoncordem discordia iussa furorem ; 170

solus Hypermestrae servatus munere Lynceus
eifugit; aspicias illam sibi parva paventem
et pro dimisso tantum pallere marito.
iamque lovem in formas mutat quibus ille tenere
Mnemosynam, Europani, Semelen, Ledam, Cyno-
suram 175

serpens, bos, fulmen, cygnus, Dictynna solebat.
iamque opus in turrem Danaae pluviamque metalli
ibat et hie alio stillabat luppiter auro,
cum virgo aspiciens vidit Tritonida verso
lumine doctisonas spectare libentius artes; 180

commutat commota manus ac pollice docto
pingere philosophi victricem Laida coepit,
quae Cynici per menta feri rugosaque colla

167. salute BuecJider : salutem codd. praestante salutem
vulgo, fortasse rede.

182. Laida : livida codd.

^ Orpheus.

' See 11. 89 sq. n.

2 i.e. the gold threads of the embroidery.

* See note on v. 6, above.

238

XV. EPITHALAMIUM

all the famous tales of old-time marriages. First
the story of Ithaca and the Dulichian home were
figured, and she wove in Penelope herself unweaving
the slow-gro^ving web. There also is the Thracian,^
whose wife has twice been snatched from him ;
vainly he beats upon the portal of Taenarus with the
throbs of his lyre, after breaking the ordinance of
Avernus, and he looks not back a second time upon
the shade, deeming that this is in his favour.
Then there is Alcestis, who puts her husband before
herself and vows to cut short her life, which you
could see there in the very wool of the Fateful
Sisters, not yet spun to the end, for by her destiny
life still remains to her. There also shines forth in
gold the night of the Danaids ; their impious father
girds upon them fifty swords, and the discord forced
upon them stirs a concordant frenzy. Lynceus
alone escapes, saved by the grace of Hypermestra ;
you could see her there, fearing little for herself
and pale only ^^^th anxiety for the husband she has
sulFered to depart. The broiderer likewise changes
Jove into the shapes in which he was wont to embrace
Mnemosyne, Europa, Semele, Leda, Cynosura,
becoming serpent, bull, lightning, swan, and Dic-
tynna.2 Then the work passed into Danae's tower
and the rain of metal ; and here Jupiter was dripping
with another kind of gold ^ when the maid, looking
at Tritonis,* saw that the eyes of the goddess were
averted and that she was gazing with more pleasure
at the arts that give forth learned utterance. Then
the maiden's hand was moved to motive new, and
with cunning thumb she began to portray Lais,
the philosopher's vanquisher, who all over the chin
and wrinkled neck of the boorish Cynic severed

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

rupit odoratam redolenti forcipe barbam.
subrisit Pallas castoque haec addidit ore: 185

" non nostra ulterius ridebis dogmata, virgo
philosopho nuptura meo ; mage flammea sumens
hoc mater sine texat opus, consurge, sophorum
egregium Polemi decus, ac nunc Stoica tandem
pone supercilia et Cynicos imitatus amantes 190
incipies iterum parvum mihi ferre Platona."
haerentem tali compellat voce magister :
" perge libens, neu tu damnes fortasse iugari,
quod noster iubet ille senex qui non piger hausit
numina contemplans Any to pallente venenum." 195

Dixerat; ille simul surgit vultuque modesto
tetrica nodosae commendat pallia clavae.
amborum tum diva comas viridantis olivae
pace ligat, nectit dextras ac foedera mandat,
Nymphidius quae cernat avus. probat Atropos omen
fulvaque Concordes iunxerunt fila sorores. 201

XVI

EVCHARISTON AD FAVSTVM EPISCOPVM

Phoebum et ter ternas decima cum Pallade Musas
Orpheaque et laticem simulatum fontis equini

190. cygnos Wilamountz.

195. contemplans Wilamoioitz : condempnans, condemp-
nens, contempnens codd.

^ The Cynics' neglect of personal comfort gained them a
bad reputation. This Cynic's beard is not over- clean; the
dainty Lais, on the other hand, perfumes even her scissors.
Possibly, however, odoratam means " perfumed."

2 " The Master " seems to be Plato.

' The pallium and the clava (a thick staff) mark the phil-
osopher : cf. Epist. IV. 11. 1, IX. 9. 14.

* It is uncertain whether he was the bride's or the bride-
groom's grandfather. He may be the Nymphidius to whom
Epist. V. 2 is addressed.

240

XVI. TO BISHOP FAUSTUS

the odorous beard with fragrant scissors.^ Pallas
smiled, and opened her virgin lips to add these
words: " No more shall you laugh at our dogmas —
you maid that are bride-to-be of my philosopher;
rather now put on the bridal veil and let a matron
do this piece of broidery. Rise, Polemius, bright
jewel among our sages; now at last put away the
Stoic frown, and imitating the Cynic lovers you shall
begin to bring me a second little Plato." As he
hesitated, the Master ^ addressed him thus : " Pro-
ceed \^^th Avilling heart, and do not haply condemn
marriage, which the old teacher enjoins who promptly
drained the poison with his eyes fixed on the gods,
while Anytus' cheek grew pale."

When these words are spoken he arises and with
modest mien commends the austere cloak to the
keeping of the knotted cudgel.^ Then the goddess
binds the hair of each ^vith green olive, the emblem of
peace, joins their hands, and ordains the contract
which the grandfather Nymphidius* is to ratify.
Atropos approves the omen and the sister Fates
with one accord unite the golden Hfe-threads of the
two.

XVI

THANKSGIVING TO BISHOP FAUSTUS «

Thrust far from thee, O lyre of mine, Phoebus
and the nine Muses together with Pallas as tenth,
Orpheus and the fabled water of the horse's spring,

• Faustus was a native of Britain {Epist. IX. 9. 6). He
entered the monastery of Lerins (104 n.) at an early age,
becoming its abbot in a.d. 433 in succession to Maximus

a4i

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Ogygiamque chelyn, quae saxa sequacia flectens
cantibus auritos erexit carmine muros,
sperne, fidis ; magis ille veni nunc spiritus, oro, 5
pontificem dicture tuum, qui pectora priscae
intrasti Mariae, rapiens cum tympana siccus
Israel appensi per concava gurgitis iret
aggeribus vallatus aquae mediasque per undas
pulverulenta tuum clamaret turba triumphum ; 10
quique manum ludith ferientem colla Olophernis
iuvisti, excise iacuit cum gutture truncus
et fragilis valido latuit bene sexus in ictu ;
expresso vel qui complens de vellere pelvem
inficiensque dehinc non tacto vellere terram 15

firmasti Gedeona, tubis inserte canoris
spiritus, et solo venit victoria cantu ;
quique etiam adsumptum pecorosi de grege lesse
adflasti regem, plaustro cum foederis arcam
imponens hostis nullo moderante bubulco 20

proderet obscaenum turgenti podice morbum ;
quique trium quondam puerorum in fauce sonasti,
quos in Chaldaei positos fornace tyranni

14. pelvem Luetjohann : pellem.

(v. 112). He was consecrated Bishop of Riez (Reii) probably
about A.D. 460 and became a leading ecclesiastical figure.
His opposition to the Arian creed caused his banishment after
Euric had extended his territory in 476 or 477 and gained
control of Riez. He was later allowed to return. His writings
include two books De Gratia, two De Spiritu Sancto, and some
letters. Some works have been falsely attributed to him.
After his death his writings were condemned as heretical.
242

XVI. TO BISHOP FAUSTUS

and the Theban lute that with its music moved the
stones to follow it and raised by its strains the eagerly-
listening walls. Rather do thou come, O great Spirit,
I pray, to speak of thy pontiff — thou who didst enter
into the heart of Miriam ^ in olden times, when Israel
seizing their timbrels marched dry-shod through
the trough of the suspended sea, walled in by ram-
parts of water, and thy people, dust-covered as they
passed through the midst of the waves, acclaimed thy
triumph :

11 Who didst aid the hand of Judith as it smote
the neck of Holophernes, when the trunk was laid
prostrate with the throat cut through and the strong
blow gloriously disguised the weak sex ^ :

14 Who, filling the basin from the wrung fleece and
then bedewing the earth ^v'ithout touching the
fleece, didst hearten Gideon ^ ; thou Spirit that wert
infused into the sounding trumpets, so that victory
came from their blast alone * :

18 Who didst also inspire the king that was called
from amid the sheep of Jesse, ^ the possessor of rich
flocks, when the enemy set the Ark of the Covenant
on a wain with no drover to guide it and betrayed
the loathsome disease by the swelling of the secret
parts ^ :

22 Who didst once sound in the mouths of the three
youths who when put in the Chaldean tyrant's

^ Miriam, Exod. 15. 20; crossing of the Red Sea, c. 14.

2 Judith 13. 8-10. 3 Judges 6. 36-40.

« Judges 7. 19 sqq. ^ 1 Sam. 16. 11-13; 18. 2.

• Ark and emerods, 1 Sam. cc. 5 and 6. But this story
has nothing to do with King David ; Sidonius has confused
the story of the Philistines and the ark with that of 2 Sam.
6. 2 sqq.

243

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

roscida combusto madefecit flamma camino ;
quique volubilibus spatiantem tractibus alvi 25

complesti lonam, resonant dum viscera monstri
introrsum psallente cibo vel pondera ventris
ieiuni plenique tamen vate intemerato
ructat cruda fames, quern singultantibus extis
esuriens vomuit suspense belua morsu ; 30

quique duplex quondam venisti in pectus Helisei,
Thesbiten cum forte senem iam flammeus axis
tolleret et scissam linquens pro munere pellem
hispidus ardentes auriga intraret habenas ;
quique etiam Heliam terris missure secundum 35
Zachariae iusti linguam placate ligasti,
dum faceret serum rugosa puerpera patrem,
edita significans iusso reticere propheta,
gratia cum fulsit, nosset se ut lex tacituram ;
quique etiam nascens ex virgine semine nuUo, 40
ante ullum tempus deus atque in tempore Christus,
ad corpus quantum spectat, tu te ipse creasti ;
qui visum caecis, gressum quoque reddere claudis,
auditum surdis, mutis laxare loquelam

33. pallam cod. Hdmstad.

* Daniel 3. 13 sqq. ; the " dew-like flame " ib. 50 (Vulgate) :
et [Angelus Domini] fecit medium fornacis qiuisi ventum
roris flantem, et non tetigit eos omnino ignis neque contristavity
nee quidquam molestiae intulit. This occurs in a passage
of 67 verses (numbered 24-90) which does not appear in the
Hebrew text, but which is found in Theodotion's version
(from which the Vulgate took it) and in the Septuagint :
it doubtless occurred also in all the old Latin versions. Cur-
iously enough, as Professor A. Souter informs me, no Latin
Father quotes the above verse. Even Jerome in his comment-
ary on Daniel fails to do so, though he makes some comments
on the interpolated passage after pointing out that it does not
occur in the Hebrew.

244

XVI. TO BISHOP FAUSTUS

furnace were but wetted with a dew-like flame when
the oven itself was consumed ^ :

25 Who didst fill Jonah,^ as he traversed the rolling
tracts of the whale's belly, while the inward parts of
the monster resounded with the psalms sung by
the swallowed food, and a hunger that was clogged
within belched forth the load of a full but fasting
stomach without hurting the prophet, whom the beast,
ravenous yet holding oif his bite, disgorged from
his retching entrails :

31 Who aforetime didst pass in a double portion into
the breast of Elisha, when the time came for the
fiery chariot to bear aloft the Tishbite in his old age,
and the rough-clad charioteer, leaving as a gift his
torn coat of skin, entered the flaming car ^ :

35 Who also, when minded to send to earth the second
Elias,* didst in thy mercy bind the tongue of
righteous Zacharias,^ till such time as a mother in
wrinkled eld should make him a father in his old
age ; and who in bidding the prophet to be silent
about thy message didst give token that with the
dawn of Grace the Law must know that silence was
coming upon it :

40 Who also, born of a pure virgin, before all time
God and in time Christ, didst create thyself,
as touching the body ; who wert wont to give to
the blind sight, to the lame the power to walk, to
the deaf hearing, and to loosen the tongue of the

* Jonah, c. 2.

' 2 (4) Kings 2. 9 sqq. Sidonius is again confused : Elisha
rent his own clothes and " took up the mantle of Elijah that
fell from him."

« Malachi 4. 5, Malth. 11. 14, 17. 12, Mark 9. 13 (12 Vulg.;,
Lulce 1. 17.

' Luke. 1. 5 sqq.

245

VOL. I. L

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

suetus ad hoc etiam venisti, ut mortua membra 45
lecto, sandapila, tumulo consurgere possint ;
quique etiam poenas suscepta in carne tulisti,
sustentans alapas, ludibria, verbera, vepres,
sortem, vincla, crucem, clavos, fel, missile, acetum,
postremo mortem, sed suvrecturus, adisti, 50

eripiens quidquid veteris migraverat hostis
in ius per nostrum facinus, cum femina prima
praeceptum solvens culpa nos perpete vinxit;
(qui cum te interitu petiit nee repperit in te
quod posset proprium convincere, perdidit omne 55
quod lapsu dedit Eva suo ; chirographon ilium,
quo pervasus homo est, haec compensatio rupit.
expers peccati pro peccatoribus amplum
fis pretium veteremque novus vice faenoris Adam,
dum moreris, de morte rapis. sic mortua mors est,
sic sese insidiis quas fecerat ipsa fefellit ; 61

nam dum indiscrete petit insontemque reosque,
egit ut absolvi possent et crimine nexi) ;

^ Coloss. 2. 14. The Greek is i^aXeltpas to Kad^ rjixiov
X(tp6ypa(f>ot> Tois SoyixacLv and the Latin (Vulgate) is delens
quod adversus nos erat chirographum decreti. These very
difficult words have been much discussed both by the
ancient Fathers and by modern theologians. Sidonius was
no theologian, but there is perhaps something to be said for
his interpretation : man had by his faU been, as it were,
compelled to sign a bond whereby he was made over to the
devil in default of paying a seemingly impossible ransom;
Christ has made himself the ransom.

* Pervasus is very difficult. In legal Latin and in many
late authors pervadere, pervasio, and pervasor are used with
reference to an act of wanton appropriation. The act may
be a flagrant theft (property stolen from a church is called
pervasa in PauUn. Petricord. Vit. Mart. VI. 247) or the un-
lawful occupation of a dwelling. In the latter meaning we
find pervadere and pervasor used metaphorically by Christian

246

XVI. TO BISHOP FAUSTUS

mute, and didst come that dead bodies might be
able to rise from bed. bier, and tomb; who didst
in thine adopted flesh suffer torments, enduring
buffets, scoffs, stripes, thorns, casting of lots, chains,
the cross, the nails, the gall, the spear, the vinegar,
and finally didst meet death, though only to rise
again, delivering whatsoever had passed into the
dominion of the old Enemy through our trans-
gression, when the first woman broke the com-
mandment and so fettered us with abiding guilt
(But the Enemy, when he sought thy destruction
nor found in thee aught that he could prove to
be his own, lost all that Eve gave him by her fall;
and this recompense of thine dissolved the bond ^ by
which man became a robber's possession. ^ Free from
sin thou didst become an ample ransom for sinners,
and thou, the new Adam, didst by dying pay the
price and snatch the old Adam from death. Thus
Death is dead, caught in the very trap himself had
made ; for attacking without distinction innocent
and guilty, he brought it to pass that even those
enslaved by sin received the power to be absolved) :

wTiters with reference to demoniac possession. In this sense
the devil is called pervasor by Paulinus, op. cit. VI. 44; the
same metaphor (probably suggested by Matth. 12. 29, Luke 11.
24) is developed more fully by Sedulius in relating the story
of the boy possessed by an imclean spirit {Matth. 17. 14—18,
Mark 9. 17-27, Luke 9. 38-^2, A.V. numbering) : Christ
compels the spirit pervdsa migrare domo {Pasch. Carm. III.
309; so in the prose version, Pasch. Op. III. 25, pervasae
domus habitacvlo migraturus). Sidonius may have had this
image in his mind : in virtue of the " bond " the Evil One
has seized possession of man and made of him a dwelling-
place. On the other hand the meaning of pervasu^ here may
be simply "seized," ''snatched away," "stolen." The
translation given attempts to cover both meanings.

247

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quique etiam iustos ad tempus surgere tecum
iussisti cineres, cum tectis tempore longo 65

inrupit festina salus infusaque raptim
excussit tumulis solidatas vita fa villas :
da Faustum laudare tuum, da solvere grates,
quas et post debere iuvat. te, magne sacerdos,
barbitus hie noster plectro licet impare cantat. 70
Haec igitur prima est vel causa vel actio laudum,
quod mihi germani, dum lubrica volvltur aetas,
servatus tecum domini per dona probatur
nee fama titubante pudor; te respicit istud
quantumcumque bonum ; merces debebitur illi, 75
ille tibi. sit laus, si labi noluit, eius ;
nam quod nee potuit, totum ad te iure redundat.
praeterea quod me pridem Reios veniente,
cum Procyon fureret, cum solis torridus ignis
flexilibus rimis sitientes scriberet agros, 80

hospite te nostros excepit protinus aestus
pax, domus, umbra, latex, benedictio, mensa, cubile.
omnibus attamen his sat praestat quod voluisti
ut sanctae matris sanctum quoque limen adirem.
derigui, fateor, mihi conscius atque repente 85

tinxit adorantem pavido reverentia vultum ;
nee secus intremui quam si me forte Rebeccae
Israel aut Samuel crinitus duceret Annae.

78. venientem codd,

85. derigui Luetjohann : dirigui.

1 Matth. 27. 52 sq.

* We do not know the name of any brother of Sidonius.

' i.e. although a reward in heaven will be his due, you wiU
have made him what he is.

* The mother is probably (as Krusch conjectured) Mother
Church, not the mother of Faustus, and 8. m. limen is the
threshold of the cathedral church.

248

XVI. TO BISHOP lAUSTUS

64 Who didst likewise bid the ashes of the just
to rise with thee at the appointed time,^ when
salvation of a sudden burst upon them who had
long been covered up, and a flood of life poured
into them and swept their re-knit ashes from the
tomb —

68 Do thou grant that I may praise thy servant Faustus,
that I may pay my debt of gratitude, which even
after this payment I am glad to owe. Thee, great
priest, this lyre of mine doth hymn, albeit with a
quill unequal to the task.

The first cause and burden of my praises is that
when my brother ^ was at an age that is prone to slip
his virtue was preserved with thy help through the
grace of our Lord, and stands approved — yea,
and with no wavering in his good report. This
blessing in all its immensity is to be ascribed to thee ;
the reward will be due to him, but he will be due
to thee.^ If he has of his own free will refused to
stumble, let the praise be his ; but that he could not
have stumbled even if he would redounds by right
entirely to thy credit. I praise thee too because
when I came aforetime to Reii, while Procyon was
raging and the sun's parching fire was marking the
thirsty fields with winding cracks, thy hospitality
straightway greeted my hot discomfort with peace,
home, shade, water, benediction, bed, and board.
But a far greater boon than all these was that thou
wert willing for me to approach also the hallowed
threshold of the hallowed mother.* I stood stock-
still, I confess, as I felt my unworthiness, and all at
once fearful awe coloured my face as it thrilled with
adoration ; yea, I trembled as if Israel were bringing
me to Rebecca or long-haired Samuel to Hannah.

249

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quapropter te vel votis sine fine colentes

adfectum magnum per carmina parva fatemur, 90

Seu te flammatae Syrtes et inhospita tesqua
seu caeno viridante palus seu nigra recessu
incultum mage saxa tenent, ubi sole remoto
concava longaevas adservant antra tenebras ;
seu te praeruptis porrecta in rupibus Alpis 95

succinctos gelido libantem caespite somnos,
anachoreta, tremit (quae quamquam frigora portet,
conceptum Christi numquam domat ilia calorem),
qua nunc Helias, nunc te iubet ire lohannes,
nunc duo Macarii, nunc et Paphnutius heros, 100
nunc Or, nunc Ammon, nunc Sarmata, nunc Hilarion,
nunc vocat in tunica nudus te Antonius ilia
quam fecit palmae foliis manus alma magistri ;
seu te Lirinus priscum complexa parentem est,
qua tu iam fractus pro magna saepe quiete 105

discipulis servire venis vixque otia somni,
vix coctos capture cibos abstemius aevum
ducis et insertis pinguis ieiunia psalmis,
fratribus insinuans quantos ilia insula plana

108. pingis CTF : pinguas Caduceus, fortasse recte.

^ Probably the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist, though
there were Egyptian anchorites who bore these names.
The Macarii, HUarion, and Antonius are mentioned in Epist.
VII. 9. 9. Sarmata is unknown ; it may be either the man's
name or a description of him, " the Sarmatian." For the
others see Diet. Chr. Biog. and Dom E. C. Butler in C. M. H.,
I. 521 sqq. The " master " of St. Anthony was Paulus
(Thebaeus).

2 Lirinus {Lerina in Pliny), modem St.-Honorat, one of the
Lerins-group of islands opposite Antibes.

' Monies is used by ecclesiastical writers to denote bishops
and priests. There is here, of course, a frigid contrast between
montes and plana insula. Caprasius was associated with
Honoratus in the foundation of the monastery. Lupus = St.
250

XVI. TO BISHOP FAUSTUS

Wherefore I honour thee \vithout ceasing even in
my prayers, and now I acknowledge in paltry verse
my great affection.

Whether thou dost tarry roughly garbed in a
cheerless wilderness by the sun-fired Syrtes or
choosest rather a marsh full of green slime or the dark
recesses of rocks where deep sunless caves maintain
an age-long gloom ; or whether the Alps, stretching
afar >v'ith their long line of precipitous crags, tremble
before thee, great anchorite, as thou snatchest brief
slumber on the cliill ground (and ^^^th all their cold
they never overcome the warm glow that Christ
hath set in thy heart) ; for this is the way that thou
art urged to go, now by Elias, now by John,^ now by
the two Macarii, now by the great Paphnutius, now
by Or, now by Ammon, now by Sarmata, now by
Hilarion; and another time the call comes from
Antonius, clad only in that tunic wliich the kindly
hand of his master made of palm-leaves :
104 Or whether Lirinus ^ hath welcomed thee, its
erstwhile father, whither thou, instead of resting
long when thy strength is exhausted, dost often
come to serve thy disciples, and thou wilt scarce
repose thyself in sleep or take cooked food, but livest
a life of self-denial and makest thy fasts rich with
intervals of psalmody, meanwhile instilling lessons
into the brethren, telling how many great eminences ^

Lupus of Troyes. Honoratus became Bp. of Aries, and Maxi-
mus (see Epist. VIII. 14. 2) succeeded him at Leriiis and subse-
quently became Bp. of Riez; in each of these offices his
successor was Faustus, St. Eucherius was a monk at Lerins
and afterwards Bp. of Lyons. His theological writings were
potent for many centuries. Hilarius was a monk of Lerins,
who followed Honoratus to Aries but subsequently returned
to his old monastery. He afterwards became Bp. of Aries.

251

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

miserit in caelum montes, quae sancta Caprasi 110
vita senis iuvenisque Lupi, quae gratia patrem
mansit Honoratum, fuerit quis Maximus ille,
urbem tu cuius monachosque antistes et abbas
bis successor agis, celebrans quoque laudibus illis
Eucherii venientis iter, redeuntis Hilari; 115

seu te commissus populus tenet et minor audet
te medio tumidos maiorum temnere mores ;
seu tu sollicitus curas qua languidus esca
quave peregrinus vivat, quid pascat et ilium,
lubrica crura cui tenuat sub compede career ; 1 20
seu mage funeribus mentem distr actus humaiidis,
livida defuncti si pauperis ossa virescant,
infastiditum fers ipse ad busta cadaver ;
seu te conspicuis gradibus venerabilis arae
contionaturum plebs sedula circumsistit, 125

expositae legis bibat auribus ut medicinam:
quidquid agis, quocumque loci es, semper mi hi

Faust us,
semper Honoratus, semper quoque Maximus esto.

XVII

AD V. C. OMMATIVM

Quattuor ante dies quam lux Sextilis adusti
prima spiciferum proferat orbe caput

113. monachosque Sirmondus : monachusque.

^ The preacher is seated, as was usual; the congregation
stands, as was the common, but not universal, custom at
this time. Augustine {De Catechizandia Rudihus, c. 13,
a very interesting chapter) expresses approval of the practice
adopted in some "transmarine" {i.e. Italian) churches,
where seats were provided for all. He would have them pro-
vided everywhere, at least for the infirm and the physically tired.
253

XVII. TO OMMATIUS

that flat island hath sent soaring to the skies, of
what kind was the holy Ufe of old Caprasius and young
Lupus, what favour was destined for Honoratus their
founder, and who was that Maximus over whose city
and monks thou, twice his successor, wert set as
bishop and abbot; and thou dost also acclaim in
these praises the coming of Eucherius and the
return of Hilarius :
116 Or whether the people committed to thy charge
now have thee among them, and the lesser folk,
with thee in their midst, dare to despise the proud
ways of the great ; or whether thou dost anxiously
take heed what food the sick or the stranger has
and how even he is fed whose legs the prison wastes
imtil they slide loosely beneath the fetters; or
whether the burial of the dead has all thy thoughts,
and loathing not the body of one of the poor although
a green hue be spreading over the livid remains,
thou with thine own hands dost bear it to the tomb ;
or whether thou art about to preach from the con-
spicuous steps of the holy altar, and the eager crowd
take their stand around thee ^ that their ears may
drink in the heahng medicine of the Law's exposition
— whatever thou doest, wherever thou art, I wish
thee for evennore the blessings of thy three names.
Fortunate, Honoured, Greatest.

XVII

TO OMMATIUS, SENATORS

Four days before the first dawn of August raises
above the earth its corn-wreathed head there will

* For Ommatius see 11. 52 n.

253

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

natalis nostris decimus sextusque coletur,

adventu felix qui petit esse tuo.
non tibi gemmatis ponentur prandia mensis, 5

Assyrius murex nee tibi sigma dabit ;
nee per multiplices abaco splendente cavernas

argenti nigri pondera defodiam;
nee scyphus hie dabitur rutilo cui forte metallo

crustatum stringat tortilis ansa latus. 10

fercula sunt nobis mediocria, non ita facta

mensurae ut grandis suppleat ars pretium.
non panes Libyca solitos flavescere S)n*te

accipiet Galli rustica mensa tui.
vina mihi non sunt Gazetica, Chia, Falerna 15

quaeque Sarepteno pabnite missa bibas.
pocula non hie sunt inlustria nomine pagi

quem posuit nostris ipse triumvir agris.
tu tamen ut venias petimus ; dabit omnia Christus,

hie mihi qui patriam fecit amore tuo. 20

16. Sarepteno T, quod Graecae formae respondet: Seraptano
C F, Saraptano cett. Hie ant Sarepteno aid Sarapteno
kgendum censeo {de forma SapaTrra vide Pauly-Wi^sowa s.v.
Sarepta). Latina forma Sareptensis apud Hieronymum in-
venitur.

18. quem ego : quod. Vide Class. Quart., loc. cit.

^ It should have been unnecessary to point out that nostris
is not nosirorum ; but everyone since Mommsen's day has
inferred from this line that two of Sidonius's children were
twins ! No9tris is Dative of the Agent.

^ Sidonius speaks as a Lyonese to an Arvemian. " Celtic
Gaul " and Aquitaine, which included Auvergne, were made
separate provinces by Augustus and remained so.

254

XML TO OiMMATlUS

be celebrated by my family a sixteenth birthday,^
which craves to be made lucky by your coming.
You shall not have a meal set for you on jewelled
tables, nor shall Assyrian purple pro\ide your
dining-couch. I shall not bury in the manifold
recesses of a glittering side-board masses of dark
old silver-plate; nor shall there be offered here a
(*up whose twisted handles clasp sides overlaid with
ruddy gold. Our salvers are of moderate size, and
not so made that their artistry atones for their lack
of bulk. The rustic table of your Gallic ^ friend
will not receive loaves that were wont to make
the fields yellow by the Libyan Syrtes. As for wines,
I have none of Gaza, no Chian or Falernian, none
sent by the vines of Sarepta ^ for you to drink. There
are here no cups distinguished by the name of
that canton which the triumvir himself established
in our land.* Nevertheless, we beg you to come;
Christ will provide all things, by whose grace this
has been made a real homeland ^ for me through
your love.

• The Zarephath of 1 Kings 17. 9f. (Sarepta in Luke 4.
26), between Tyre and Sidon. There is an interesting re-
miniscence of this passage in Corippus, In Lavdem Iitstini III.
87 f. : dulcia Bacchi munera quae Sarepta (note the quantity)
ferax, quae Gaza crearat.

* Cass. Dio, XLVI. 50, states that Lug(u)dunum was
founded in 43 B.C. by Munatius Plancus and M. Aemilius Lepi-
dus (who was about to become a triumvir), and that the first
inhabitants were refugees from Vienna (mod. Vienne). As the
district round Vienn« was famous for its wine, I believe that
Sidon i us means " cups of the wine of Vienne . " The Viennenses
are rather loosely described as a pagu^, but that is no serious
objection. " Our (or possibly " my ") land " refers to the
territory of Lyons. See Class. Quart, loc. cit., p. 21.

' This refers to the poet's new home in Auvergne.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

XVIII
DE BALNEIS VILLAE SVAE

Si quis Avitacum dignaris visere nostram,

non tibi displiceat : sic quod habes placeat.
aemula Baiano tolluntur culmina cono

parque cothurnato vertice fulget apex,
garrula Gauranis plus murmurat unda fluentis 5

contigui collis lapsa supercilio.
Lucrinum stagnum dives Campania noUet,

aequora si nostri cerneret ilia lacus.
illud puniceis ornatur litus echinis :

piscibus in nostris, hospes, utrumque vides. 10
si libet et placido partiris gaudia corde,

quisquis ades, Baias tu facis hie animo.

XIX

DE PISCINA SVA

Intrate algentes post balnea torrida fluctus
ut solidet calidam frigore lympha cutem ;

et licet hoc solo mergatis membra liquore,
per stagnum nostrum lumina vestra natant.

1 See introductory note to Epist. II. 2. With nostram
understand villain.

* For the conical roof cf. Episl. II. 2. 5. Apparently a
prominent bathing-establishment at Baiae had a roof of that
kind.

* Cothurnato gives the idea of dignity, possibly also of
height, as in Pliny, Epist. IX. 7. 2, of which this is probably
a rather loose reminiscence. There Pliny tells us of two villas
which he possessed on the shores of Lake Como. One was on
a height, with a view of the lake, the other was down on the
lake-side. The former he called Tragedy because it seemed to be
supported on buskins {cothurni), the latter he named Comedy
because it seemed to rest on humble " socks " {socculi).

256

XIX. ON HIS SWIMMING-BATH

XVIII

ON THE BATHS OF HIS COUNTRY HOUSE

Whoe'er you be, if you deign to visit our Avitacum,^
let it not dissatisfy you : so may what you possess
satisfy you. Here a roof ^ rises that rivals the cone
of Baiae, and no whit inferior shines the peaked top
>vith its proud crest.^ There the chattering water
that falls from the brow of the neighbouring hill
babbles more busily than the streams that flow from
Gaurus. Rich Campania would be ill-pleased with
the Lucrine mere if she beheld the waters of our lake.
That other shore is adorned by red sea-urchins, but
in our fish, O stranger, you see both characters.*
If you are willing, and if you share our joys with
contented heart, gentle visitor, whoever you be,
you can create a Baiae here in your fancy.

XIX

ON HIS SWIMMING-BATH

Enter ye the chill waves after the steaming baths,
that the water by its coldness may brace your heated
skin; and though you plunge your limbs in this
liquid alone,^ our pond makes your eyes swim.

* The meaning seems to be " You can see in our fish both
characteristics of the echini of Baiae," i.e. both " fishiness "
and redness (cf. Epist. II. 2. 17), or possibly redness and prickli-
ness. But the text may be corrupt. It is juct possible that
utrumque vides is a corruption of acumen idem, " there is the
same sharpness," the fish having a sharp flavour (cf. Plin. N. H.
XIV. 124, saporis quaedam acumina) and the echini sharp
prickles.

' Perhaps the point is " Although it is only water, with no
stronger liquor in it." For another explanation see Semple,
op. cit., p. 113.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

XX

AD ECDICIVM SORORIVM SVVM

Natalis noster Nonas instare Novembres
admonet : occurras non rogo, sed iubeo.

sit tecum coniunx, duo nunc properate ; sed illud
post annum optamus tertius ut venias.

XXI

DE PISCIBVS NOCTE CAPTIS

Quattuor haec primum pisces nox insuit hamis ;

inde duos tenui, tu quoque sume duos,
quos misi, sunt maiores ; rectissimus ordo est;

namque animae nostrae portio maior eras.

XXII
SIDONIVS PONTIO LEONTIO SVO SALVTEM

1 . Dum apud Narbonem quondam Martium dictum
sed nuper factum moras necto, subiit animum quos-

^ Ecdicius was the son of the Emperor Avitus, and therefore
the brother of Sidonius' wife, Papianilla. He was the hero of
the last resistance of Auvergne to the Goths (see Introd.,
p. xlvi), Epist. II. 1 and III. 3 are addressed to him. This
poem shows that the birthday of Sidonius was the 5th of
November. Klotz (Pauly-Wissowa, R.-E. s.v. Sidonius) thinks
the word instare may mean that the birthday was the day
before the Nones (i.e. the 4th). Obviously he misunderstood
natalis, although the meaning found here occurs even in Ovid
and Tibullus. The meaning " birthday " does not fit the
rest of the sentence.

2 The owner of " Burgus " was Pontius Leontius of Bor-
deaux, " easily the first of the Aquitanians " {Epist. VIII. 12. 5).
The poem is very obscure in places, and gives no adequate idea
of the arrangement of the buildings. The name of this

XXII. SIDONIUS TO LEONTIUS

XX

TO HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW ECDICIUS i

The genius of my birth reminds me that the Nones
of November are at hand. I do not invite you, I
order you to come to me. Bring your wife with
you ; hasten — a couple this time, but next year
I hope there will be three of you.

XXI

FISH CAUGHT AT NIGHT

This night for the first time fixed four fishes on
my hooks. Of these I have kept two ; do you also
take two. Those I am sending are the largest ;
the arrangement is perfectly just, for you are the
larger portion of my heart.

XXII

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND PONTIUS
LEONTIUS, GREETING 2

1. As I was trying to spin out the days at Narbo ^
— which was named of old and has in recent times
become in reality the town of Mars — it occurred to

Burgus is believed to survive in the modem Bourg-sur-
Gironde. Stevens, p. 65 n. 1, refers to Naufroy, Uistoire
de Bourg-sur-Gironde (1898), p. 9, which I have not been able
to consult.

* Narbo Martius was the full name of the town, but the
origin of Martius is uncertain. In a.d. 462, the town was
occupied by Theodoric II. For its struggles with Theodoric I
see 7. 475 sqq. See also n. on 23. 59-87.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

piam secundum amorem tuum hexametros concinnare
[vel condere], quibus lectis oppido scires, etsi utrique
nostrum disparatis aequo pluseulum locis lar familiaris
incolitur, non idcirco tam nobis animum dissidere
._quam patriam. 2. habes igitur hie Dionysum inter
triumph! Indici oblectamenta marcentem; habes et
Phoebum, quern tibi iure poetico inquilinum factum
constat ex numine, ilium scilicet Phoebum Anthedii
mei perfamiliarem, cuius coUegio vir praefectus non
modo musicos quosque verum etiam geometras,
arithmeticos et astrologos disserendi arte supervenit ;
siquidem nullum hoc exactius compertum habere
censuerim quid sidera zodiaci obliqua, quid plane-
tarum vaga, quid exotici sparsa praevaleant. 3. nam
ita his, ut sic dixerim, membris philosophiae claret
ut videatur mihi lulium Firmicum,^ lulianum Ver-
tacum, FuUonium Saturninum, in libris matheseos
peritissimos conditores, absque interprete ingenio
tantum sufFragante didicisse. nos vestigia doctrinae
ipsius adorantes coram canoro cygno ravum anserem
profitemur. quid te amphus moror ? Burgum tuam,
quo iure amicum decuit, meam feci, probe sciens vel
materiam tibi esse placituram, etiamsi ex solido
poema displiceat.

1 lulium Firmicum solus ezhibet Vatican. 3421.

^ The two mentions of Phoebus are not very clear. The
first seems to allude to the fact that Paulinus, son of Pontius,
is a poet (n. on 9. 304), the second to some poetical society
or institute of which Anthedius was president. On Anthedius
see 9. 312 a.

260

XXII. SIDONIUS TO LEONTIUS

me to put together some hexameters after your own
heart. I hoped that when you read them you
might feel well assured that, although our respective
household gods are set in places a bit farther from
one another than they ought to be, it does not follow
that our souls are as far apart as our homes. 2. Here,
then, you can find Dionysus bemused amid the de-
lights of his Indian triumph, and Phoebus ^ also,
who, as is well known, is for you a god no longer but
rather, through a poet's privilege, an inmate of
your house — that same Phoebus who is a great
crony of my friend Anthedius, head of the Apolline
college, a man who surpasses in the art of lecturing
not only all musicians but all geometers, arith-
meticians, and astrologers ; for I should think no
one knows more perfectly the special influences
of the various heavenly bodies — the slanting signs
of the zodiac, the roaming planets, or the scattered
stars of the extra-zodiacal region. 3. He is indeed
so eminent in these members (if I may so term
them) of philosophy that he seems to me to have
mastered without an interpreter, solely by dint of his
own genius, the greatest savants among writers on
astrology, lulius Firmicus, lulianus Vertacus, and
Fullonius Saturninus. Following reverently the
footsteps of such 2 learning, I pretend to no higher
title than a hoarse gander in the presence of a
tuneful swan. But why delay you further ? I have
made your home, " The Castle," my own, using a
friend's proper privilege, knowing full well that my
subject-matter will please you even though the poem
should be entirely displeasing.

2 Jpsi'us is here a mere demonstrative. See critical note
on Epist. I. 9. 7.

261

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

BVRGVS PONTII LEONTII

Bistonii stabulum regis, Busiridis aras,
Antiphatae mensas et Taurica regna Thoantis
atque Ithaci ingenio fraudatum luce Cyclopa
portantem frontis campo per concava montis
par prope transfossi tenebrosum luminis antrum, 5
hospes, adi, si quis Burgum taciturus adisti.
et licet in carmen non passim laxet habenas
Phoebus et hie totis non pandat tcarbasaflfandi ,
quisque tam^n tantos non laudans ore penates
inspicis,^ii^iceri^: resonat sine voce voluntas ; 10
nam tua te taciturn livere silentia clamant.

Ergo age, Pi^rias, Erato, mihi percute chordas ;
responsent Satyri, digitumque pedemque moventes
ludant, et tremulo non rumpant cantica saltu.
quidquid forte Dryas vel quidquid Hamadryas
umquam 15

conexis sibimet festum^plausere Napaeis,
dependant modo, Burge,^tfbT,~vel Naidas istic,
Nereidum chorus alme, doce, cum forte Garunna
hue redeunte venis pontumque in flumine sulcas.
pande igitur causas, Erato, laribusque sit ede 20
quis genius ; tantum non est sine praesule culmen.

8. totus TF.

1 Diomede, who fed his mares on human flesh.

* King of Egypt, who sacrificed foreign visitors to his
country, until he was slain by Hercules.

* King of the cannibal Laestrygones (Homer, Od. X. 80
sqq.).

* King of Tauris, where human sacrifices were offered.

262

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

THE CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

Stranger, whoever you may be, that have visited
the Castle and yet are fain to keep silence about it,
may you visit the stalls of the Bistonian king,^ the
altars of Busiris,^ the table of Antiphates,^ the
Tauric realm of Thoas,* and the Cyclops who was
robbed of his sight by the cunning of the man of
Ithaca and bears on the wide expanse of his fore-
head, as he ranges through his mountain-cave, a
gloomy cavern well-nigh as vast, the socket of his
pierced eye : and although Phoebus suffers not all
and sundry to give free rein to song and does not
here spread out fully the sails of eloquence for every
man, yet whoever you are who, with no praise on
your lips, view that splendid home, you are thereby
put on view yourself; your inclination loudly heralds
itself though without voice, for your silence pro-
claims you dumb with jealousy.

Come then, Erato, strike the Pierian strings for
me. Let the Satyrs accompany the strain, playing
their part with movement of finger and of foot,
but not interrupting the melody with jerky leaps.
All the festive dances that Dryads or Hamadryads
hand in hand with the nymphs of the glen have
ever danced may they now bestow on thee alone,
great Castle ! Kindly choir of Nereids, teach the
Naiads there at the season when the Garonne flows
back thither and ye come, cleaving the sea in the
midst of the river.^ Reveal then, O Erato, the
origin of the house, and declare what protecting
spirit watches that home; for so great an edifice
cannot lack a divine guardian.

' See 7. 393 n. and w. 105-113 below.

263

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Forte sagittiferas Euan populatus Erythras
vite capistratas cogebat ad esseda tigres,
intrabat duplicem qua^[^^ivi'acemifer arcum.
marcidus ipse sedet curru ; madet ardua cervix 25
sudati de rore meri, caput aurea rumpunt
cornua et indigenam iaculantur fulminis ignem
(sumpserat hoc nascens ^rimum, cum transiit olim
in patrium de matre femur) ; fert tempus utrumque
veris opes rutilosque ligat vindemia flores ; 30

cantharus et thyrsus dextra laevaque feruntur,
nee tegit exertos, sed tangit palla lacertos ;
\ dulce natant ocuH, quos si fors vertat in hostem,
^ attonitos/j^olun^dum cernit, inebriat Indos.

turn salebris saliens quotiens se concutit axis, 35
passim deciduo perfunditur orbita musto.
Bassaridas, Satyros, Panas Faunosque docebat
ludere Silenus iam numine plenus alumno,
sed comptus tamen ille caput ; nam vertice nudo
amissos sertis studet excusare capillos. 40

Corniger inde novi fit Ganges pompa triumphi ;
cernuus inpexam faciem stetit ore madenti et
arentes vitreis adiuvit fletibus undas ;
coniectas in vincla manus post terga revinxit
■^ ' pampinus ; hie sensim captivo umore refusus 45
sponte refrondescit per bracchia roscida palmes.Q *

1 Eryth. : n. on 2. 447.

2 Both the Latin and the translation are rather strained.
One is tempted to suspect that a line has dropped out of the
text. The " double arch " can scarcely be anything but the
double yoke, illustrations of which may be seen in the ordinary
dictionaries of antiquities. The pole was passed through the
connecting-piece between the two yokes. Those editors who
punctuate so as to connect v. 24 with v. 25 make duplicem
arcum uninteUigible.

264

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

It chanced that Bacchus, having laid waste
Erythrae,^ the famed haunt of bowmen, was subject-
ing vine-bridled tigers to his chariot where a pole
that bore clustering grapes entered the double arch.^
In the car sat the god himself, all languorous ;
his proud neck sweated with exuded wine ; from
his head sprang golden horns, which hurled forth
his native levin-fire (this he had first received at his
birth long before, when he passed from his mother
into his father's thigh). Both his temples were
covered with the bounties of springtime, and the
vintage crop fastened the red flowers in their place ;
his right hand carried a goblet and his left a thyrsus,
and his arms were bare, the cloak just touching with-
out hiding them. There was charm in his swinmiing
eyes, and if he chanced to turn them upon the enemy
he dazed those Indians by his mere look and made
them drunken. Whenever the wheel jolted, forced
upward by rough places, the track was soaked all
over with a falling shower of new wine. Bassarids,
Satyrs, Pans and Fauns were being taught to frolic
by Silenus ; he was now filled with the divinity that
he had reared, but his head was in orderly array;
for on his bare pate he took pains to palliate the loss
of hair with a garland.

The next show in this new triumph is homed
Ganges. With hanging head he has taken his place ;
his face is unkempt and his cheeks bedewed, and with
his glassy tears he has helped to replenish his parched
stream. His hands have been cast into chains,
and a vine-branch has fastened them behind his back ;
and gradually the water thus held prisoner has caused
fresh growth, and of its own accord the vine-shoot
sends forth new leafage all over those dewy arms.

365

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Nee non et rapti coniunx ibi vineta mariti
it croeeas demissa genas vetitaque reeondi
lampade cum Solis radiis Aurora rubebat.

Adfuit hie etiara post perdita cinnama Phoenix, 50
formidans mortem sibi non superesse secundam.
succedit captiva cohors, quae fercula gazis
fert onerata suis ; ebur hie hebenpsque vel aurum
et niveae pieeo raptae de pectore bacae
gestantur ; quicumque nihil sustentat, odoros 55
mittitur in nexus ; videas hie ipsa placere
supplicia et virides violis halare catenas.

Vltima nigrantes incedunt praeda elephanti ;

informis cui forma gregi : riget hispida dorso

vix ferrum passura cutis ; quippe improba^f{!item\l 60
nativam nee tela forant, contracta vicissim
tensaque terga feris crepitant usuque cavendi
pellunt excussis impactum missile rugis.

lamque iter ad Thebas per magnum victor agebat
aera et ad summas erexerat orgia nubes, 65

cum videt Aonia venientem Delion arce.
grypas et ipse tenet : vultus his laurea curvos
fronde lupata ligant ; hederis quoque circumplexis
pendula lora virent ; sensim fera subvolat ales
aerias terraeque vias, ne forte citato 70

alarum strepitu lignosas frangat habenas.
aeternum nitet ipse genas ; crevere corymbis
56. odoros edit. Buret : odoris.

1 The " stolen husband " is probably Tithonus, though he
is not the only beautiful youth that Aurora carried oflE.
Commentators wrongly take the husband to be Ganges.

2 2. 417 n.

^ Apollo. The " Aonian height " is Mt. Helicon, sacred
to Apollo and the Muses. In v. 96 below Aonios colles means
" Boeotian hills." Boeotia (especially Thebes and Orchomenos)
was famous for its worship of Dionvsus.
266

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

There also walks in chains the wife of a stolen
husband,^ Aurora. Her saffron-hued countenance
is do\vncast, but her lamp may not be hidden, and
she is flushed with the glow of the sun's rays.

Here also appeai-s the Phoenix, ^ who has lost his
cinnamon and fears that after this no second death
can be his. Then comes a company of prisoners
bearing trays laden ^vith their treasures ; here are
carried ivory and ebony and gold and snow-white
gems snatched from pitch-black bosoms. Whoever
does not support a load is consigned to fragrant
bonds, and it is plain that their very punishment is
pleasing, for the verdant chains breathe forth the
odour of violets.

Last of the spoil, the dusky elephants advance,
a troop of unshapely shape. On their backs is a
skin rough and stiff, that will scarce let steel pass
through it; for even ruthless javelins fail to pierce
that natural barrier, and the hide crackles as it
stretches and contracts in turn and with practised
defence repels the smiting missile by shaking out
its \\Tinkles.

Now the conqueror was speeding his way to Thebes
through the vast air and had taken up his revelling
rout to the clouds, when he saw the god of Delos ^
approaching from the Aonian height. This god
likewise wields the rein, but his steeds are gryphons ;
curbs of leafy laurel bind their hooked beaks ; the
hanging reins are green with ivy intertwined. Slowly
and steadily do those winged beasts fly along their
paths in air and over land, lest haply by a violent
flapping of their wings they break the woody reins.
The countenance of the god shines with an eternal
radiance ; clusters of ivy-berries stand out upon his

367

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

tempora et auratum verrit coma concolor axem ;
laeva parte tenet vasta dulcedine raucam
caelato Pythone lyram, pars dextra sagittas 75

continet atque alio resonant es murmur e nervos.
ibant Pipliades pariter mediumque noveno
circumsistentes umbrabant syrmate currum.
pendet per teretes tripodas Epidaurius anguis
diffusus sanctum per colla salubria virus. 80

hie et crinisatas iungebat Pegasus alas,
portans doctiloquo facundum crure Crotonem.

Vt sese iunxere chori, consurgit uterque
fratris in amplexus, sed paulo segnior Euan,
dum pudet instabiles, si surgat, prodere plantas. 85
turn Phoebus " quo pergis ? " ait, " num forte nocentes,
Bacche, petis Thebas ? te cretus Echione nempe
abnegat esse deum. linque his, rogo, moenia, linque,
et mecum mage flecte rotas, despexit Agaue
te colere et nosmet Niobe ; riget inde superba, 90
vulnera tot patiens quot spectat vulnera ventris,
optantemque mori gravius dementia fixit ;
parcere saepe malum est sensumque inferre dolori.
ipsa autem nato occiso Pentheia mater
amplius ut furiat numquid non sana futura est ? 95
ergone Aonios colles habitare valemus,

82. Crotonem Wilamoioitz : Creontem.
90. superba Luetjohann : superbuin.

* i.e. different from that of the lyre-strings.

2 Croton (Crotos, Crotus) was a son of Pan and Eupheme,
nurse of the muses. He became the constellation Sagittarius.
Crure alludes to metre ; pede would have been clearer.

^ Pentheus.

* The mother of Pentheus. She had cast a slight on the
parentage of Bacchus, who exacted vengeance by driving her
and her sisters into a frenzy, in which they slew Pentheus.

' i.e. just as Niobe's preservation was a cruel mercy,

268

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

brow and his gilded car is swept by tresses of like hue.
On his left he holds a sonorous lyre of ineffable sweet-
ness, with Python graven upon it; on his right
are arrows and strings that echo with a different
twang.^ With him advance the Muses, all gathered
around him and casting on the midst of his chariot
the shadow of their ninefold robes. The serpent
of Epidaurus hangs loosely coiled about the shapely
tripod, with a hallowed essence diffused throughout his
health-giving neck. Joined to them also is Pegasus
with his hairy wings, carrying on his back Croton,^
whose skilled foot brings forth eloquent utterance.

WTien the two bands came together each god arose
to give a brotherly embrace, but Bacchus a little more
slowly than the other, for he was shy of betraying
his unsteady feet by rising. Then Phoebus said,
" Whither away ? Can it be, Bacchus, that thou
art seeking guilty Thebes? True, Echion's de-
scendant^ denies thy godhead: nevertheless, leave
the city to them, I pray thee ; yea, do so, and rather
make thy wheels go my way. Agaue* scorned
thy worship and Niobe mine; hence was Niobe
turned to stone in her pride, herself suffering a
wound for every wound that she saw her offspring
suffer ; and as she longed for death my mercy gave
her that rigid form, a boon worse than death ; 'tis
oft an ill service to spare and to inflict on pain longer
suffering. So shall not even Pentheus' mother,
having slain her son, regain her seiis^^^ only to
become more frenzied still ?^ Nay, can we dwell
on the Aonian heights ^ when in time to come an

80 the restoration of Agaue's sanity will result in a madness
more terrible than before, because it will enable her to realise
what she has done. Numquid twn is often used in Late Latin
for nonne. • See n. on r. 66.

269

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

cum patris extincti thalamis potietur adulter,
frater natorum, coniunx genetricis habendus,
vitricus ipse suus ? cordi est si iungere gressum,
dicam qua pariter sedem tellure locemus. 100

" Est locus, irrigua qua rupe, Garunna, rotate7^
et tu qui simili festinus in aequora lapsu "^

exis curvata, Durani muscose, sabuiTa,
iam pigrescentes sensim confunditis amnes.
currit in adversum hie pontus multoque recursu 105
flumina quas volvunt et spernit et expetit undas.
at cum summotus lunaribus incrementis
ipse Garunna suos in dorsa recolligit aestusT"
praecipiti fluctu raptim redit atque videtur
in fontem iam non refluus sed defluus ire. 110

turn recipit laticem quamvis minor ille minorem
stagnanti de fratre suum, turgescit et ipse
Oceano propriasque facit sibi litora ripas.
hos inter fluvios, uni mage proximus undae, est
aethera mons rumpens alta spectabilis a^gfij^- — i 115

plus Celsos habiturus f^rngiWrnflmg^ifi-ciPjiatiim.

quem generis princeps Paulinus Pontius olim,
cum Latins patriae dominabitur, ambiet altis
moenibus, et celsae transmittent aera turres ;
quarum culminibus sedeant commune micantes 120
pompa vel auxilium ; non illos machina muros,
non aries, non alta strues vel proximus ^ggeryJ
non quae stridentes torquet catapulta molares,

111. mmorem. Luetjohann : minore.
1 14. uni : Durani Wilamomtz.

^ Oedipus. ' The Dordogne.

^ i.e. by the spring tides.
270

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

adulterer^ shall possess himself of his murdered
father's bride, to be reckoned brother of his sons,
husband of his mother, and stepfather to himself?
If thou art fain to go with me, I will tell thee in
what land we should make our joint habitation.

" There is a place where two rivers, the Garunna,
sped whirling down from a dripping mountain-crag,
and the mossy Duranius,^ which rushes with like
swoop to the plain and at last flows out from a bend
in its sandy channel, gradually commingle their
slowing streams. Here the sea rushes up against
the current and with constant coming and going
repels or courts the waters that the rivers roll down.
But when the Garunna, repulsed by the waxing of
the moon,^ once more gathers its own tidal flood upon
its back, then it returns, speeding in headlong
billows, and now seems to flow, not backwards,
but downwards to its source. Then even the
Duranius, though as the lesser it receives from its
flooding brother but a lesser share of the water, is
hkewise swollen by the ocean, and its banks become
sea-shores. Between these rivers, but nearer to
one than to the other, there is a mountain piercing
the sky, conspicuous in its towering height but
destined to have owners still more elevated and
to be the birthplace of senators. Some day,
when his land shall be under Latin sway, Paulinus
Pontius, the founder of the family, shall surround
that hill with walls, and the towers shall soar beyond
earth's atmosphere ; thus on their summits shall rest,
shining with a common radiance, the two lights of
Stateliness and Succour. Those walls no engine,
no battering-ram, no high-piled structure or near-
built mound, no catapult hurhng the hissing stones,

271

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

sed nee testudo nect'vineijnec rota currens
iam positis scalis umquam quassare valebunt. 125
cernere iam videor quae sint tibi, Burge, futura
(diceris sic) ; namque domus de flumine surgunt
splendentesque sedent per/i^rnpii^^rnUJIth prnn a p
hie eiim vexatur piceis aquilonibus aestus,
scrupeus asprata latrare crepidine pumex 130

ineipit ; at fraetis saliens e eautibus altum
exeutitur torrens ipsisque aspergine teetis
impluit ae toUit nautas et saepe iocoso
ludit naufragio ; nam tempestate peracta
destituit refluens missas in balnea classes. 135

ipsa autem quantis, quibus aut sunt fulta eolumnis !
cedat puniceo pretiosus livor in antro
Synnados, et Nomadum qui portat eburnea saxa
eollis et herbosis quae C^ernant marmora venis ;
eandentem iam nolo Paron, iam nolo Caryston ; 140
vilior est rubro quae pendet purpura saxo,

" Et ne posteritas dubitet quis conditor extet,
fixus in introitu lapis est ; hie nomina signat
auctorum; sed propter aqua, et vestigia pressa
quae rapit et fuso detergit gurgite eaenirai. 145

* This has wrongly been taken as a reference to nautical
sports such as are described in Epist. II. 2. 19; but Sidonius
merely says that there is a gap between rocks through which
water flows from the river into the baths, which are built on
the bank. When a storm arises boats are sometimes driven
through this inlet right into the baths, where they are apt to
have ridiculous experiences.

' For these marbles see 5. 34-39 nn.

' The next eight lines are desperately obscure. Sidonius is
writing to one who knew the house, and he is more intent on
ingenious conceits than on inteUigibility. Paries (146) is
possibly the front wall of the house, on the inner side of which
is the atrium. The decorative slabs (w. 146 f.) are on the
inside of the wall. Vv. 150-155 describe the atrium, which

272

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

no tortoise-roof, no mantlet, no wheel rushing onwards
with ladders already in position shall ever have power
to shake. Methinks I see the future that is in
store for thee, O Castle (for so thou shalt be called).
The house rises from the river's brim and gleaming
baths are set within the circuit of the battlements :
here when the surging waters are troubled by the
murky north-wind, the eaten, jagged rock sends
forth a roar from the scarred bank; then from a
cleft in the crags a torrent leaps forth and is shot
aloft, showering spray on to the very roofs ; it lifts up
men in boats and often mocks them with a sportive
shipwreck; for when the storm is over the flood
retreats and strands whole fleets that have been
forced up into the baths. ^ But the columns that
support the baths, of what manner and size are they ?
Before them must bow the costly dark hue in the
purple quarry of Synnada and the Numidian hill
that bears stones like ivory and the marble that
burgeons with grass-like veins ; henceforth I spurn
gleaming Paros and Carystos ; poorer now seems
the purple suspended in the blushing rock.^

" Lest posterity should be uncertain whom the
building boasts as its stablisher, a stone is set in
the ground at the entrance with the names of the
founders clearly graven upon it ; and there is water
near at hand which clears away all footprints and
wipes off all mud with its flooding stream. ^The

is crescent-shaped (lunata atria, 157). With much diffidence
I have made two alterations in the text. The meaning may-
be that a porticus duplex, i.e. a double row of pillars, runs
straight through from the entrance, thus dividing the floor
into " two floor-spaces." At the far end the two rows bend
round in opposite directions, following the rounded wall until
they come near to the paries from which they started. Then

273

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

sectilibus paries tabulis crustatus ad aurea

tecta venit, fulvo nimis abscondenda metallo;

nam locuples fortuna domus non passa latere

divitias prodit, cum sic sua culmina celat.

haec post assurgit duplicemque supervenit aream 150

porticus ipsa duplex, duplici non cognita plaustro ;

quam rursum moUi subductam vertice curvae

obversis paulum respectant cornibus alae.

ipsa diem natum cerni^][5inua^ne"dextro,

fronte videns medium, laevo visuraTcadentem. 155

non perdit quicquam trino de cardine caeli

et totum solem lunata per atria servat.

sacra tridentiferi lovis hie armenta profundo

Pharnacis immergit genitor ; percussa securi

corpora cornipedum certasque rubescere plagas 160

sanguineo de rore putes ; stat vulneris horror

verus, et occisis vivit pictura quadrigis.

Ponticus hinc rector numerosis Cyzicon armis

claudit ; at hinc sociis consul Lucullus opem fert,

compulsusque famis discrimina summa subire 165

invidet obsesso miles Mithridaticus hosti.

enatat hie pelagus Romani militis ardor

et chartam madido transportat corpore siccam.

150. aream ego : aedem.

152. quam rursum ego : quarum unam.

each row turns inward for a short distance {obversis =
" turning athwart " or " turning so as to face one another "),
and thus " looks back upon " the " double colonnade." The
winding pillars on each side form the alae. Sidonius
welcomed the word because it made a ludicrous combination
with cornibus (" wings " and " horns "). Duplici . . . plaustro
means " not exposed to the north."

274

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

house-wall is faced with slabs of cut marble up
to the gilded ceiling, which is right fitly concealed
by the yellow metal, for the rich prosperity of the
house, brooking no secrecy, reveals its wealth when
thus it hides its roof. Behind this part there soars,
passing high above a double floor, a colonnade
likewise double, unknown to the double Wain.
This again diverges gently backward, and finally
these curving wings turn their horns inward for a
little way, and so look back upon it. Its right bend
sees the dawn, its front the noonday light, its left
the fading day. It loses none of these three quarters
of the heavens, but preserves the whole of the sun
in the crescent hall. There can be seen the father
of Pharnaces plunging into the deep the horses
sacrificed to the trident-bearing Jove ^ ; you would
think the bodies of the steeds had in very truth been
smitten by the axe and that real gashes were redden-
ing with spurts of blood ; each ghastly wound seems
true, and that slain team makes the picture live.
Xext is seen on one side the ruler of Pontus beleaguer-
ing Cyzicus with multitudinous host; but on the
other side Lucullus brings aid, and the warriors of
Mithridates, forced to undergo the direst straits of
hunger, envy their besieged foe. Here a bold
Roman soldier is swinrndng to land, carrying across
the water a scroll all dry despite his dripping
body.2

^ Appian, Bell. Mith. c, 70, says that Mithridates, before
proceeding against Cotta in 74 B.C., sacrificed a chariot team of
four horses by flinging tliem into the sea, but he does not say
that the horses were first slaughtered. The *' trident-bearing
Jove " is Neptune.

* For this story see Flor. I. 40 (III. 6) 16.

275

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

" Desuper in longum porrectis horrea tectis
crescunt atque amplis angustant fructibus aedes. 170
hue veniet calidis quantum metit Africa terris,
quantum vel Calaber, quantum colit Apulus acer,
quanta Leontino turgescit messis'iicervo)
quantum Mygdonio eommittunt Gargara suleo,
quantum, quae tacitis Cererem venerata choreis, 175
Attica Triptolemo civi condebat Eleusin,
cum populis hominum glandem linquentibus olim
fulva fruge data iam saecula fulva perirent.
porticus ad gelidos patet hinc aestiva triones ;
hinc calor innocuus thermis hiemalibus exit 180

atque locum in tempus mollit ; quippe ilia rigori
pars est apta magis ; nam quod fugit ora Leonis,
inde Lycaoniae rabiem male sustinet Vrsae.
arcis at in thermas longe venit altior amnis
et cadit in montem patulisque canalibus actus 185
circumfert clausum cava per divortia flumen.
occiduum ad solem post horrea surgit opaca
j5[uae dominis hiberna domus ; strepit hie bona flamma
appositas depasta trabes ; sinuata camino
ardentis perit unda globi fractoque flagello 190

spargit lentatum per culmina tota vaporem.
continuata dehinc videas quae conditor ausus
aemula Palladiis textrina educere templis.
hac celsi quondam coniunx reverenda Leonti,

181. inadd.Mohr.

^ The sun is (or rather was) in Leo in July.

^ " Falls into (not down or from) the mountain " : a
characteristically feeble paradox. The meaning is that
trenches are dug in the mountain-side to form conduits, ami
the water falls into them.

276

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

" Higher up the granaries multiply with their long
stretch of buildings and with produce within so
abundant that even their vast space is cramped.
Hither shall come as great a harvest as is reaped
in Africa's warm fields or cultivated by the Calabrian
or the brisk Apulian, as rich a crop as swells for the
stacks of Leontini, or as Gargarus commits to its
Lydian furrow, or as Attic Eleusis, that worshipped
Ceres with mystic dances, used to garner for her
citizen Triptolemus, when long ago the tribes of
mankind renounced the acorn and the golden age
was perishing now that the golden grain was given.
Then there is a summer portico exposed on one side
to the chill north : at the other end a harmless
warmth comes out from the winter baths and tempers
the air of the place when the season requires ;
so this end is best suited to the cold weather; for
the part that fights shy of the Lion's mouth ^ is
thereby unfitted to endure the rage of Lycaon's
Bear. Into the warm baths of the mansion comes a
stream from far above, which falls into the mountain,^
being forced through open channels till at last it circu-
lates its waters under cover through divergent tun-
nels. Behind the shaded granaries there rises toward
the west a structure that is the winter home of the
master and mistress ; here a goodly fire crackles,
which devours the great logs that are piled near
at hand; the glowing cloud that comes forth in
billows curls upward from the stove, +hen fades
away, and >vith its blast now broken it spreads a
mitigated heat all over the roof. Joined to the room
may be seen the weaving-chambers, which the
founder dared to build in a style that vied with the
temples of Pallas. Some day it shall be blazoned

277

VOL. I. M

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

qua non ulla magis nurus umquam Pontia gaudet 195
inlustris pro sorte viri, celebrabitur aede
vel Syrias vacuasse colus vel serica fila
per cannas torsisse leves vel stamine fulvo
praegnantis^usi mollitum nesse metallumj
parietibus posthinc rutilat quae machina iunctis 200
fert recutitorum primordia ludaeorum.
perpetuum pictura micat ; nee tempore longo
depretiata suas turpant pigmenta figuras.
%}>^' *' Flecteris ad laevam : te porticus accipit ampla
y" directis curvata viis, ubi margine summo 205

pendet ettar^Ts^stat saxea silva columnis.
alta volubilibus patet hie cenatio valvis ;
fusilis euripus propter; cadit unda superne
ante fores pendente lacu, venamque secuti
undosa inveniunt nantes cenacula pisces. 210

conuninus erigitur vel prima vel extima turris ;
mos erit hie dominis hibernum ^igE|^ locare.
huius conspicuo residens in culmine saepe
dilectum nostris Musis simul atque capellis
aspiciam montem; lauri spatiabor in istis 215

frondibus, hie trepidam credam mihi credere

Daphnen.
iam si forte gradus geminam convertls ad Arcton
ut venias in templa dei qui maximus ille est,

^ The distaff is called " Syrian " because the lady is working
with wool akeady dyed in Syrian purple.

2 Perhaps rather "on the extreme edge is perched" (of.
collis margine, 24. 66). The " forest of columns was perhaps
built on an overhanging ledge at one end of the hill.

' Sidonius plays on the literal meaning of cenacvlum,
"dining-room, ' and the derived meaning, "upper chamber."
278

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

forth by fame that in this sanctuary the worshipful
lady of the great Leontius, than whom no other wife
of the Pontian house ever rejoiced more in her
husband's illustrious rank, "Stripped the Syrian ^
distaff and twisted the silken strands along the
light reeds and spun the pliant metal, making the
spindle swell with thread of gold. Next to this,
with wall abutting, there stands a resplendent
structure, which shows depicted the beginnings of
the circumcised Jews. The brightness of the
picture is everlasting: time brings no degeneration
in the colours to mar the painted forms.

" You turn left, and a spacious colonnade receives
you, its shape curved but its passages straight.
To the extreme edge clings ^ a crowded forest of close-
set columns. Here is built a lofty dining-room
Nvith folding-doors. A conduit of cast metal is
near; there is a suspended tank in front of the
door: into it the water falls from above, and
fishes, advancing with the flow, find the end of their
swimming in an upper room — but a watery one.^
Close at hand rises the first, or, if it please you better,
the last of the towers. There the masters of the
house will be wont to set their dining-couch in
\vinter. Often-times on its far-seen roof will I sit
and view that mountain beloved by my Muses and
by the goats ; I will walk amid those laurel boughs,
and there I shall believe that the timorous Daphne
believes in me. Then if you chance to turn your
steps towards the two Bears to reach the temple of
that God who is greatest of all, you find the wine-

The tank is a cenactUum in the latter sense, but fishes gener-
ally find the end of their career in a cenactUum of the other
sort.

279

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

deliciis redolent iunctis apotheca penusque ;

hie multus tu, frater, eris. 220

" lam divide sedem,
cessurus mihi fonte meo, quern monte fluentem
umbrat multicavus spatioso circite fornix,
non eget hie cultu, dedit huic natura decorem.
nil fictum placuisse placet, non pompa per artem
ulla, resiiltanti non comet malleus ictu 225

saxa, nee exesiira supplebunt marmora tofum.
hie fons Castaliae nobis vice sufficit undae.
cetera dives habe ; colles tua iura tremiscant ;
captivos hie solve tuos, et per iuga Burgi
laeta relaxatae fiant vineta catenae." 230

Confirmat vocem iamiam prope sobrius istam
Silenus, pariterque chori cecinere faventes :
" Nysa, vale Bromio, Phoebo, Parnase bivertex.
non istum Naxus, non istum Cirrha requirat,
sed mage perpetuo Burgus placitura petatur." 235

5. Ecce, quotiens tibi libuerit pateris capacioribus
hilarare convivium, misi quod inter scyphos et
amystidas tuas legas. subveneris verecundiae meae,
si in sobrias aures ista non venerint ; nee iniuria hoc
ac secus atque aequum est flagito, quandoquidem
Baccho meo iudicium decemvirale passuro tem-
pestivius quam convenit tribunal erigitur. 6. si

^ As Bacchibs is used in poetry for " wine," there is a
double meaning here.
^ i.e. Delphi.

280

XXII. CASTLE OF PONTIUS LEONTIUS

store and the larder fragrant with mingled delights.
This place will see much of you, my brother.^

" Now agree upon a division of haunts : you shall
leave to me my spring, which flows from the moun-
tain, shadowed by an arched covering of ample
circuit, much pitted. This needs no embellishment,
for Nature has given it beauty. It seems good to
me that there no counterfeiting should seem good;
no artificial splendour there ; no hammer with re-
echoing blow shall dress those stones, no marble
workmanship take the place of the weather-worn
tuff. That spring contents me instead of Castalia's
fountain. All else you may have to enrich you :
the hills may tremble before your power; here set
your captives free, and may their loosened bonds
become joyous vineyards all over the Castle's hilly
slopes ! "

Silenus, now all but sober, confirmed this utterance,
and the bands of revellers likewise sang their approval :
" Nysa, Bromius bids thee farewell; twin-crested
Parnassus, Phoebus bids farewell to thee. Let
Naxus no longer seek the one or Cirrha ^ the other,
but rather let the Castle be our goal, to give delight
for evermore."

5. See, I have sent you something to read amid
your bumpers and wassailings whenever you choose
to cheer the feast with extra-large cups. You will
save my blushes if these lines do not find their way
to sober ears. This is not an unlawful or an in-
equitable demand on my part, since the treatment I
deprecate amounts to setting up a premature tribunal
for my Bacchus, where he would be subjected to a
judgment of decemviral severity. 6. Again, should

281

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quis autem carmen prolixius eatenus duxerit esse
culpandum,quodepigrammatis excesserit paucitatem,
istum liquido patet neque balneas Etrusci neque
Herculem Surrentinum neque comas Flavii Earini
neque Tibur Vopisci neque omnino quicquam de
Papinii nostri silvulis lectitasse ; quas omnes de-
scriptiones vir ille praeiudicatissimus non distichorum
aut tetrastichorum stringit angustiis, sed potius, ut
lyricus Flaccus in artis poeticae volumine praecipit,
multis isdemque purpureis locorum communium
pannis semel inchoatas materias decenter extendit.
haec me ad defensionis exemplum posuisse sufficiat,
ne haec ipsa longitudinis deprecatio longa videatur.
vale.

XXIII

AD CONSENTIVM

Cum iam pro meritis tuis pararem,
Consenti, columen decusque morura,
vestrae laudibus hospitalitatis
cantum im'pendere pauperis cicutae,
ultro in carmina tu tubam recludens 5

converso ordine versibus citasti
suetum ludere sic magis sodalem.
paret Musa tibi, sed impudentem

^ These poems are numbered respectively I. 5, III. 1, III.
4, and I. 3 in the Silvae of Statins.

2 Hor. A. P. 15, purpureiis, late qui sphndeat, unus et
alter adsuiiur pannus.

282

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

anyone consider that such a lengthy poem deserves
censure for going beyond the brevity of an epigram,
it is perfectly clear that he has not been in the
habit of reading the " Baths of Etruscus " or the
" Hercules of Surrentum " or the " Locks of Flavins
Earinus " or the " Tiburtine Home of Vopiscus,"^
or indeed anything from the little " Silvae " of our
Statius ; for that man of most assured reputation
does not cramp any of these descriptions within
the narrow limits of two-lined or four-lined poems,
but rather does what the lyric poet Horace enjoins
in the " Art of Poetry " : once he has introduced
his subject, he appropriately enlarges it by the re-
peated use of stock "purple patches." ^ Let this
suffice as a specimen of my self-defence, lest this
justification of length should itself seem too long.
Farewell.

XXIII

TO CONSENTIUS

Consentius,' pillar and ornament of manners, I
was already preparing to devote the strains of
my poor reed to the praises of your hospitality,
as you well deserve, when you forestalled me and,
reversing the order of things, brought out your
trumpet and in verses challenged your old crony,
who is more used to that kind of pastime, to produce
a poem. Well, the Muse answers your call, but she

' Consentius of Narbonne, to whom Epist. VIII. 4 is ad-
dressed, is mentioned as a poet in Epist. IX. 15. 1, carm.
22 sqq. The present poem cannot have been written before
A.D. 462, when Theodoric II occupied Narbonne {w. 69-73), or
after 466, when he was murdered. See Introd., p. Ivii.

283

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

multo cautius hinc stilum movebit ;

nam cum carmina postules diserte, 10

suades scribere, sed facis tacere.

nuper quadrupedante cum citato

ires Phocida Sestiasque Baias,

inlustres titulisque proeliisque

urbes per duo consulum tropaea, 15

(nam Martem tulit ista lulianum

et Bruto duce nauticum furorem,

ast haec Teutonicas cruenta pugnas,

erectum et Marium cadente Cimbro),

misisti mihi multiplex poema, 20

doctum, nobile, forte, delicatum.

ibant hexametri superbientes

et vestigia iuncta, sed minora,

per quinos elegi pedes ferebant ;

misisti et, triplicis metrum trochaei 25

spondeo comitante dactyloque,

dulces hendecasyllabos, tuumque

blando faenore Sollium ligasti.

usuram petimurque reddimusque;

nam quod carmine pro tuo rependo, 30

hoc centesima laudium tuarum est.

Quid primum venerer colamque pro te ?
ni fallor, patriam patremque iuxta;
qui quamquam sibi vindicare summum
possit iure locum, tamen necesse est 35

illam vincere quae parit parentes.
salve, Narbo potens salubritate,
urbe et rure simul bonus videri,

284

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

will move her shameless pen much more cautiously
on this account ; for in making such an eloquent
demand for a song you urge one to write but con-
strain one to be silent. Lately, when on galloping
steed you were travelling to Phocis ^ and the Sestian
Baiae, cities conspicuous in the records of the great
and famed for battles through the trophies won by
two consuls (for the first of these towns bore the brunt
of Caesar's armed might and the frenzy of a navy
under Brutus' ^ command, the other, bathed in
blood, endured the Teuton fray, with Marius proudly
standing as the Cimbrian fell), you sent me a manifold
poem, skilful, striking, powerful, exquisite. Hexa-
meters marched in their pride, and elegiacs advanced
beside them, but with lesser steps that covered but
five feet. You sent also graceful hendecasyllables,
where spondee and dactyl accompany three trochees,
and you have put your Sollius in a charming debt.
Now I am asked for interest, and pay it ; what I am
now disbursing in consideration of your poem is one
per cent, of the praises due to you.

To what must I first pay reverence and worship
on account of you ? To your fatherland, methinks,
and after that to your father. He might indeed
justly claim the first place for himself, but the parent
of parents must needs have precedence. Hail,
Narbo, surpassing in thy healthiness, gladdening the
eye with thy town and thy countryside alike, with thy

^ Phocida = Massiliam (Marseilles), a colony of Phocaea,
This confusion of Phocis and Phocaea is probably borrowed
from Lucan (III. 340, V. 53), though it occurs elsewhere. The
" Sestian Baiae " is Aquae Sextiae (Aix) founded by C. Sextius
Calvinus in 122 b.c, and renowned for its warm springs.

• i.e. Decimus Brutus.

285

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

muris, civibus, ambitu, tabernis,

portis, porticibus, foro, theatre, 40

delubris, capitoliis, monetis,

thermis, arcubus, horreis, macellis,

pratis, fontibus, insulis, salinis,

stagnis, flumine, merce, ponte, ponto;

unus qui venerere iure divos 45

Lenaeum, Cererem, Palem, Minervam

spicis, palmite, pascuis, trapetis.

solis fise viris nee expetito

naturae auxilio procul relictis

promens montibus altius cacumen, 50

non te fossa patens nee hispidarum

obiectu sudium coronat agger ;

non tu marmora bratteam vitrumque,

non testudinis Indicae nitorem,

non si quas eboris trabes refractis 55

rostris Marmarici dedere barri

figis moenibus aureasque portas

exornas asaroticis lapillis ;

sed per semirutas superbus arces,

ostendens veteris decus duelli, 60

quassatos geris ictibus molares,

laudandis pretiosior ruinis.

sint urbes aliae situ minaces,

quas vires humiles per alta condunt,

et per praecipites locata cristas 65

numquam moenia caesa glorientur :

tu pulsate places fidemque fortem

oppugnatio passa publicavit.

Hinc te Martins ille rector atque
magno patre prior, decus Getarum, 70

Romanae columen salusque gentis,
Theudoricus amat sibique fidum

286

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

walls, citizens, circuit, shops, gates, porticoes, forum,
theatre, shrines, capitol, mint, baths, arches, granaries,
markets, meadows, fountains, islands, salt-mines,
ponds, river, merchandise, bridge and brine; thou
who hast the best title of all to worship as thy gods
Bacchus, Ceres, Pales and Minerva in virtue of thy
corn, thy vines, thy pastures, and thine olive-mills !
Thou hast put thy trust in thy men alone, and seeking
no aid from Nature thou dost soar to heights that
leave mountains far behind. No gaping fosse, no
mound with its ban-ier of bristling stakes surrounds
thee ; no marble workmanship, no gilding or glass,
no shining Indian tortoiseshell, no bars of ivory
broken off from the mouths of Marmaric elephants
dost thou fix upon thy walls ; thou adornest no golden
gates with mosaic; but proud among thy half-
demolished strongholds thou dost display thy glory
won in the old war, and though thy great stones
have been battered down thou art prized more
highly for those glorious ruins. ^ Let other cities
menace by their sites — cities built on high by lowly
powers; let walls set on precipitous ridges boast
that they have never been felled ; as for thee, shat-
tered as thou art thou dost win favour; the wide-
spread fame of that assault hath made thy staunch
loyalty renowned.

Hence that martial ruler, the superior even of his
great sire, glorious ornament of the Goths, pillar and
saviour of the Roman race, Theodoric, loves thee, and

* For the attack on Narbo by Theodoric I see n. on 7. 475.
It is not certain that Theodoric II met with resistance when
he occupied the town in a.d. 462. Sidonius seems here to
attribute all the damage to "the old war." In Carm. 22
epist. 1 he seems to imply recent fighting, but the reference
may be merely to warUke preparations.

a87

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

adversos probat ante per tumultus.

sed non hinc videare forte turpis,

quod te machina crebra perforavit ; 75

namque in corpore fortium virorum

laus est amplior amplior cicatrix.

in castris Marathoniis merentem

vulnus non habuisse grande probrum est;

inter Publicolas manu feroces 80

trunco Mucins eniinet lacerto;

vallum Caesaris opprimente Magno

inter tot facies ab hoste tutas

luscus Scaeva fuit magis decorus.

laus est ardua dura sustinere ; 85

ignavis, timidis et improbatis

multum fingitur otiosa virtus.

Quid quod Caesaribus ferax creandis,
felix prole virum, simul dedisti

natos cum genitore principantes ? 90

nam quis Persidis expeditionem
aut victricia castra praeteribit
Cari principis et perambulatum
Romanis legionibus Niphaten,

tum cum fulmine captus imperator 95

vitam fulminibus parem peregit?

His tu civibus, urbe, rure pollens
Consenti mihi gignis alme patrem,

^ After the fighting at Dyrrhachium it was found that the
shield of Caesar's centurion, Scaeva, was pierced in 120
places (Caes. B.C. III. 53. 4). Lucan devotes a long passage
(VI. 140-262) to his extraordinary feats.

288

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

from thy fierce resistance of yore he gains assurance
of thy present loyalty. And thou canst not be con-
sidered unsightly because many an engine of war
hath pierced thee, for on the body of the brave the
greater the scar, the greater the honour. In the
campaign of Marathon it was a sore disgrace for a
soldier to have had no wound. Amid the Publicolae
with their bold hands Mucius with his maimed arm
shone conspicuous. When Magnus was over-
whelming Caesar's rampart, then amid a multitude
of faces unharmed by the enemy Scaeva^ with one
eye lost was comelier than all. Hard to win is the
glory of enduring adversity ; it is the indolent, the
coward and the dastard that are wont to feign prowess
without toil.

Nor is this all. Fruitful mother of Caesars and
blest in an offspring of heroes, thou didst give us at
one time father and sons ^ holding imperial sway
together. Who shall leave unmentioned the cam-
paign against Persia or the victorious warfare of
Carus our prince and the marching of Roman legions
over Niphates at that time when the Emperor was
overwhelmed by lightning and a life that was itself
like lightning met its end ?

Strong in such citizens and in thy city and thy
countryside, thou didst graciously bless me by
bringing to life the father of Consentius, a man in

* Referring to the Emperor Carus (a.d. 282 -283) and his
sons Carinus and Numerianus, who were associated with him
as Caesars and succeeded him as joint rulers (283-4). Carus
seems to have been born not at Narbo (Narbonne) but at
Narbona, or rather Narona, in Illyria. The cause of his death
on his Persian expedition may have been assassination, not
lightning.

239

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

ilium cui nitidi sales rigorque

Romanus fait Attico in lepore. 100

hunc Miletius et Thales stupere

auditum potuit simulque Lindi est

notus qui Cleobulus inter arces,

et tu qui, Periandre, de Corintho es,

et tu quern dederat, Bias, Priene, 105

et tu, Pittace, Lesbius sophistes,

et tu qui tetricis potens Athenis

vincis Socraticas, Solon, palaestras,

et tu, Tyndareis satus Therapnis,

Chilon, legifero prior Lycurgo. 110

non hie, si voluit vacant e cura

quis sit sideribus notare cursus,

diversas Arato \1as cucurrit;

non hunc, cum geometricas ad artes

mentem composuit, sequi valebat 115

Euclides spatium sciens Olympi ;

non hunc, si voluit rotare rhythmos,

quicquam proposito virum morari

Chrysippus potuisset ex acervo.

hie cum Amphioniae studebat arti 120

plectro, poUice, voce tibiaque,

Thrax vates, deus Areas atque Phoebus

omni carmine post erant et ipsas

Musas non ita musicas putares.

hie si syrmate cultus et cothurno 125

intrasset semel Atticum theatrum,

cessissent Sophocles et Euripides;

^ The meaning is that Chrysippus, who solved, or rather
dismissed, the problem of the Sorites by arbitrarily choosing
a stopping-place, could not have interrupted periods which
were so skilfully constructed and rounded off that no break

290

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

whom sparkling wit and Roman sternness were
set amid Attic elegance. Hearing him Milesian
Thales might well have been amazed, and Cleobulus
too, renowned among the eminences of Lindus, and
Periander of Corinth, and Bias, whom Priene gave
to the world, and Pittacus, the Lesbian master of
wisdom, and Solon, who ruled grave Athens and
surpassed the school of Socrates, and Chilon, scion of
Tyndarean Therapnae, a man to be esteemed before
Lycurgus the law-giver. This sage of ours, when in
times of leisure he chose to mark the courses of the
stars, did not stray from the paths that Aratus trod.
When he set his mind on the lore of geometry,
Euclid, who knew the measure of the heavens, could
not have followed him. When he chose to build
rhythmical periods, Chrysippus could not have
treated them like the Sorites and hindered him
from completing each scheme.^ When he devoted
himself to the art of Amphion with quill, thumb,
voice and flute, the Thracian bard, the Arcadian god
and Phoebus lagged behind him in every kind of
song, and the very Muses might be deemed less
musical. If clad in long cloak and buskin he had
once entered the Athenian theatre, Sophocles and
Euripides would have given way before him; if

could be made in the middle of them. The word acervus
(corresponding to Greek acopos, from which comes aajpii-nis) is
used also by Cicero, Ac. II. 49, and Horace, Epist. II. 1.
47, in connexion with the fallacy of the Sorites; see Reid
and Wilkins respectively on the passages just cited. The
Sorites took various forms; the simplest form is repre-
sented by the question ' ' How many grains make a heap ?
Does one?" The answerer would then be led on to add one,
then another one, and so on, and the process would end in
his discomfiture.

2^\

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

aut si pulpita personare socco

comoedus voluisset, huic levato

palmam tu digito dares, Menander. 130

hie eum senipedem stilum polibat

Zmyrnaeae viee doetus offieinae

aut eum se historiae dabat severae,

primos vix poterant locos tueri

torrens Herodotus, tonans Homerus. 135

non isto potior fuisset, olim

qui Pandioniam movebat arte

orator caveam tumultuosus,

seu luseum raperetur in Philippum,

eausam seu Ctesiphontis actitaret, 140

vir semper popularitate crescens

et iuste residens in arce fandi,

qui fabro genitore procreatus

oris maluit expolire limam.

quid vos eloquii canam Latini, 145

Arpinas, Patavine, Mantuane,

et te, comica qui doces, Terenti,

et te, tempore qui satus severo

Graios, Plaute, sales lepore transis,

et te multimoda satis verendum 15C

scriptorum numerositate, Varro,

et te, qui brevitate, Crispe, polles,

et qui pro ingenio fluente nulli,

Corneli Tacite, es tacendus ori,

et te Massiliensium per hortos 155

sacri stipitis, Arbiter, colonum

132. vice C, incude F, cute ceteri. Vid. Class, Quart,, loc.
cit. pp. 21 sq.

135. terrens codd.

1 Cf. 2. 185; 9. 148.
292

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

again he had chosen to write comedies and make the
stage resound with the sock, Menander would have
lifted an appealing finger and yielded him the palm.
When he skilfully embellished the six-footed style
after the manner of Smyrna's school,^ or when he
devoted himself to austere history, Homer with his
thunder and Herodotus with his rushing flow were
scarcely able to keep the first place. Not above
him would that stormy orator have been ranked who
in olden times was wont to sway the theatre in
Pandion's to\STi by his art, whether he launched
himself against the one-eyed Philip or pled insistently
the cause of Ctesiphon, — a man ever advancing in
favour and justly placed on the topmost pinnacle
of oratory, a smith's son who preferred to sharpen his
tongue to a fine edge.^ Why should I sing of the
masters of Latin utterance,^ the man of Arpinum,
the man of Padua, the bard of Mantua, Terence,
producer of comedies, Plautus, who though born in a
serious age surpasses by his brightness the ^vit of the
Greeks ; Varro, too, right worshipful for the many-
sided multitudinousness of his books, Crispus, master
of bre\dty, Cornelius Tacitus, whom by reason of his
fertile genius no tongue must tacitly ignore, Arbiter,*
whose Gardens of Massilia make him the peer of the

» 2. 187 sq. n.

' With this descriptive catalogue of Latin writers cf. 2.
182-192.

* Referring to Petronius Arbiter. The extaiit remains of his
Saiyricon do not enable ns to explain hortos Massil., though
there is evidence that Massilia was mentioned in that work.
The hero, Encolpius, is dogged by the wrath of Priapus, who
was worshipped especially at Lampsacus, on the Hellespont
(cf. 9. 174). The " sacred tree-stock " refers to the rude
wooden images of Priapus. For a fuller discussion see Class.
Quart.f loc. cit. p. 22.

»93

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Hellespontiaco parem Priapi,

et te carmina per libidinosa

notum, Naso tener, Tomosque missum,

quondam Caesareae nimis puellae 160

ficto nomine subditum Corinnae?

quid celsos Senecas loquar vel ilium

quem dat Bilbilis alta Martialem,

terrarum indigenas Hibericarum?

quid quos duplicibus iugata taedis 165

Argentaria Polla dat poetas ?

quid multos varii stili retexam?

arguti, teneri, graves, dicaces,

si Consentius adfuit, latebant.

Huic summi ingenii viro simulque 170

summae nobilitatis atque formae
iuncta est femina quae domum ad mariti
prisci insignia transferens lovini
implevit trabeis larem sophistae.
sic intra proprios tibi penates, 175

Consenti, patriae decus superbum,
fastis vivit avus paterque libris.

Haec per stemmata te satis potentem,
morum culmine sed potentiorem,
non possim merita sonare laude, 180

nee si me Odrysio canens in antro,
qua late trepidantibus fluentis
cautes per Ciconum resultat Hebrus,
princeps instituisset ille vatum,
cum dulces animata saxa chordae 185

157. Priapi ego : Priapo. Vid. Class. QtuirL, loc. cit. p. 22.
166. pallidat codd.

1 There is no ground for this identification of Ovid's Corinna
with Julia, daughter of Augustus, or for the suggestion that
his relations with Julia were the cause of his banishment.
294

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

dweller of the Hellespont as worshipper of the sacred
tree-stock, Priapus; and languishing Ovid, famed
for his lascivious poems and banished to Tomi, too
much erstwhile the slave of Caesar's daughter, whom
he called by the feigned name of Corinna ? ^ Why
cite the great Senecas, or Martial, given to the world
by lofty Bilbilis — all natives of Spanish lands ? Why
speak of the poets whom Argentaria PoUa, twice
yoked in wedlock, presents to us ? ^ Why rehearse
the names of many masters of divers styles ? Tune-
ful, melting, grave or witty, if Consentius appeared
they shrank into obscurity.

To this man supreme ahke in genius, nobility,
and comeliness, was linked a lady who brought to her
husband's home the trappings of honour worn by
Jovinus of old and filled the dwelling of a scholar
with robes of state.^ Thus within your walls, Con-
sentius, proud glory of your country, your grand-
father still lives on by the lustre of his dignities and
your father by his books.

* Mighty as you are through this lineage, and yet
mightier by your lofty character, I could not sound
your praises worthily even if the great father of
bards, singing in Odrysian cave where Hebrus with
his bustling waters re-echoes among the rocks of the
Ciconians, had taught me, while the sweet strings
by the power of their music drew the animated stones

' Lucan and presumably Statius ; but the ide& that Lucan's
widow married Statius has no foundation.

' The elder Consentius had married a daughter of the usurper
Jovinus (411-413).

* With the passage which follows compare 2. 69-74. This
is the seventh mention of Orpheus in these poems, and there
are nearly as many in the Epistles.

«9S

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

ferrent per Rhodopen trahente cantu

et versa vice fontibus ligatis

terras currere cogerent anhelas,

nee non Hismara solibus paterent

aurita chelyn expetente silva 190

et nulli resolubiles calori

curvata ruerent nives ab Ossa,

stantem aut Strymona Bistones viderent,

cum carmen rapidus latex sitiret ;

nee si Peliaco datus bimembri 195

ad Centaurica plectra constitissem,

hinnitum duplicis timens magistri ;

nee si me docuisset ille fari,

iussus pascere qui gregem est clientis

Amphrysi ad fluvium deus bubulcus, 200

quod ferrugineos Cyclopas arcu

stravit sub Liparensibus caminis

\ibrans plus grave fulmen in sagitta.

lam primo tenero calentem ab ortu
excepere sinu novem sorores, 205

et te de genetrice vagientem
tinxerunt vitrei vado Hippocrenes :
tunc, hac mersus aqua, loquacis undae
pro fluctu mage litteras bibisti.

hinc tu iam puer aptior magistro 210

quidquid rhetoricae institutionis,
quidquid grammaticalis aut palaestrae est,
sicut iam tener hauseras, vorasti.
et lam te aula tulit piusque princeps
inter conspicuous statim locavit, 215

consistoria quos habent, tribunes;

207. texerunt codd. ; vitrei CPF : vitreae T ; rf. 9. 285.
210. hinc Luefjohann : tunc.

296

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

adown the slopes of Rliodope and, reversing the
order of things, bound rivers fast and forced the land
to rush panting along, and Mount Ismarus was laid
bare to the sun, as the trees, all ears, hied them
towards the lyre, and the snows that no heat could
melt fell headlong down from bowing Ossa, and the
Bistones saw Strymon standing still, its rushing waters
athirst for song; nay, not if I had been given in
charge to the twy-formed denizen of Pelion ^ and
had taken my place by the Centaur's lyre, dreading
the neigh of my double-bodied teacher; nor if I
had been taught to give utterance by him who was
commanded to feed the flock of his servant by the
river Amphrysus,^ a god turned herdsman because
with his bow he laid prostrate the grimy Cyclopes
down among the furnaces of Lipara, launching in
his arrow a bolt more crushing than theirs.

The moment that your warm infant form saw the
hght, the nine Sisters welcomed you to their arms,
and they took you, a wailing babe, from your mother
and dipped you in the crystal pool of Hippocrene.
At that moment, when they steeped you in the fount,
it was no mere flow of prattling water that you
drank, but rather the lore of letters. Hence when
you had grown to boyhood and were more fitted for
a teacher's care ^ you devoured all the course of
rhetoric and of the grammarian's school even as you
imbibed it in infancy. Next the Court claimed you
and the good Emperor straightway set you among
the honourable tribunes of his Consistory * ; and the

* Chiron. * Apollo.

' Or perhaps " more capable than your teacher " (so the
Thes. Ling. Lot.).

* He was tribunns et notarius under Valentinian III. On
this oflRce see C. M. H., I. 38.

297

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

iamque et purpureus in arce regni

praeesse officiis tuis solebat,

mores nobilitate quod merebant:

tantum culminis et decus stupendum 220

script! annalibus indicant honores.

hinc tu militiam secutus amplam,

castrensem licet ampliare censum

per sufFragia iusta debuisses,

sollcmnis tamen abstinens lucelli 225

fama plus locuples domum redisti

solum quod dederas tuum putando.

turn si forte fuit quod imperator

Eoas soceri venire in aures

fido interprete vellet et perito, 230

te commercia duplicis loquelae

doctum solvere protinus legebat.

o, sodes, quotiens tibi loquenti

Byzantina sophos dedere regna,

et te seu Latialiter sonantem 235

tamquam Romulea satum Subura,

seu linguae Argolicae rotunditate

undantem Marathone ceu creatura

plaudentes stupuere Bosphorani,

mirati minus Atticos alumnos ! 240

hinc si foedera solverentur orbis,

pacem te medio darent feroces

Chunus, Sauromates, Getes, Gelonus;

tu Tuncrum et Vachalim, Visurgin, Albin,

Francorum et penitissimas paludes 245

intrares venerantibus Sygambris

solis moribus inter arma tutus,

^ Theodosius II, whose daughter Eudoxia was married
to Valentinian III.

* Stein (I. 547, n. 2) remarks that the choice of so young
an official for this importatit duty indicates that a good
298

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

wearer of the purple himself in the citadel of the
Empire was wont to preside over your boards — an
honour which your noble virtue well deserved. This
great eminence and wondrous glory stands recorded
in the yearly roll of public dignities. Thereupon
you undertook a duty of wide power, and although you
might well have enlarged your service-pay by the
law-ful bestowal of your good offices, you held aloof
from that common pursuit of paltry gain, and you
returned home made richer in reputation by deeming
as yours only what you had given away. At that
time if there chanced to be aught that the Emperor
wished to be brought to the ears of the Empress's
father in the East ^ through an interpreter both
honest and skilled, he would straightway choose you
as one well-instructed to hold intercourse in the two
tongues. 2 O how often — let me say it — how often
did the Byzantine realm give you a " bravo ! " as you
spoke! How often did the dwellers by the
Bosphorus applaud and marvel at you, both when
you uttered the Latin speech like one born in the
Roman Subura and when you poured forth the
finished elegance of the Greek tongue like a son of
Marathon, so that they admired the natives of
Athens less ! Thus if the world's treaties had been
dissolved, your mediation would have made fierce
peoples, the Hun, the Sarmatian, the Goth, the
Gelonian, offer peace ; safe in the midst of arms through
your sheer goodness you would have penetrated even
to the Tungrian and the Vachalis, the Visurgis, the
Albis, and the remotest fens of the Franks, and the
Sygambrians would have done you reverence ; the

knowledge of Greek was now rare among the governing class
in the western Empire. This is probably true, though we
read of some other cases where duties of very high responsi-
bility were entrusted to one of the tribuni et notarii.

299

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

tu Maeotida Caspiasque portas,

tu fluxis equitata Bactra Parthis

constans intrepidusque sic adires 250

ut fastu posito tumentis aulae

qui supra satrapas sedet tyrannus

ructans semideum propinquitates

lunatam tibi flecteret tiaram.

tu si publica fata non vetarent 255

ut Byrsam peteres vel Africanae

telluris Tanaiticum rebellem,

confestim posito furore Martis

post piratica damna destinaret

plenas niercibus institor carinas, 260

et per te bene pace restituta

non ultra mihi bella navigarent.

lam si seria forte terminantem
te spectacula ceperant theatri,

pallebat chorus omnis histrionum 265

tamquam si Arcitenens novemque Musae
propter pulpita iudices sederent.
coram te Caramallus aut Phabaton
clausis faucibus et loquente gestu
nutu, crure, genu, manu, rotatu 270

toto in schemate vel semel latebit,
sive Aeetias et suus lason
inducuntur ibi ferusque Phasis,
qui iactos super arva Colcha dentes
expavit, fruticante cum duello 275

spicis spicula mixta fluctuarent;
sive prandia quis refert Thyestae
seu vestros, Philomela torva, planctus,
discerptum aut puerum cibumque factum
iamiam coniugis innocentioris ; 280

256. ut: etc.
300

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

Maeotid mere and the Caspian gates and Bactra,
where the roving Parthians ride, you would have
approached so resolute and fearless that the tyrant
who sits enthroned above his satraps mouthing boasts
of his kinship with demigods would have laid aside
the arrogance of his pompous court and bowed his
crescent ^ tiara before you. Had the fortunes of
Rome allowed you to seek Byrsa and the rebel from
the Tanais ^ in Afric's land, the frenzy of war would
straightway have been laid aside, and the trader,
after all his losses at the hands of pirates, would
have begun to dispatch ships laden with merchandise ;
and thus, peace being firmly restored through you,
I should no longer have been troubled with wars
afloat on the seas.

And when you chanced to put aside serious
concerns and were attracted by the shows of the
theatre, the whole company of actors would grow
pale, as if the god of the bow and the nine Muses
were sitting as judges beside the stage. ^ In your
presence a Caramallus or a Phabaton, with his closed
lips and his action that speaks through nod, leg, knee,
hand, and spin, will for once be unnoticed all through
his piece, whether the daughter of Aeetes and her
Jason are being shown, with the barbarous Phasis,that
was affrighted at the teeth thrown upon the Colchian
field, when a martial host sprouted up amid a surging
mass of corn-spikes and spear-heads commingled:
or whether the feast of Thyestes is represented or the
lamentations of the wild-eyed Philomela or the dis-
membered boy given as food to the husband who
thus at the last became the more innocent of the two :

» Cf. 2. 51 n. 2 Geiseric.

' The following passage refers to performances of pantomimi.

301

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

seu raptus Tyrios lovemque taiirum

spreto fulmine fronte plus timendum;

seu turris Danaae refertur illic,

cum multum pluvio rigata censu est,

dans plus aurea furta quam metalla ; 285

seu Ledam quis agit Phrygemque ephebura

aptans ad cyathos facit Tonanti

suco nectaris esse dulciorem ;

seu Martem simulat modo in catenas

missum Lemniacas, modo aut repulso 290

formam imponit apri caputque saetis

et tergum asperat hispidisque malis

leve incurvat ebur, vel ille fingit

hirtam dorsa feram repanda tela

attritu adsiduo cacuminantem ; 295

seu Perseia virgo vindicata

illic luditur harpe coniugali,

seu quod carminis atque fabularum

clausa ad Pergama dat bilustre bellum.

quid dicam citharistrias, choraulas, 300

mimos, schoenobatas, gelasianos

cannas, plectra, iocos, palen, rudentem

coram te trepidanter explicare ?

nam circensibus ipse quanta ludis

victor gesseris intonante Roma 305

lactam par fuit exarare Musam.

lanus forte suas bifrons Kalendas
anni tempora circinante Phoebo
sumendas referebat ad curules.

mos est Caesaris hie, die bis uno 310

(privates vocitant) parare ludos.

^ According to one version of the legend Mars in his jealousy
changed himself into a wild boar and slew Adonis.

302

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

or whether it is the Tyrian ravishment and Jove
turned bull, with his chief menace in his brow, for
he has flung the thunderbolt aside : or whether the
scene is the tower of Danae, when it was drenched
with a shower of riches and conferred secret joys
more golden than the metal : or whether one plays
Leda, or by setting the Phrygian youth to serve
the wine-cups makes him sweeter to Jove than
the nectar-juice : or whether one counterfeits Mars
put in Lemnian chains or again invests him, a
lover rejected, with a wild boar's ^ form, roughen-
ing his head and back with bristles, curving the
smooth ivory upward from his shaggy jaws, and
the hairy-backed monster is shown sharpening his
up-bent weapons by diligent rubbing : or whether
Perseus' maid rescued by her lover's falchion is
represented, or such song and story as the ten years*
war at beleaguered Pergamum aifords. Why should
I tell how the harpists, flute-players, mimes, rope-
walkers and clowTis quail as they display before you
their reeds, quills, jests, bouts, and ropes ? Nay, it was
rather the duty of my Muse to record with joy your
own great exploits when you were conqueror at the
circensian games amid the thunderous plaudits of
Rome. 2

Phoebus was beginning a new yearly circle, and
two-faced Janus was bringing back his Calends, the
day when the new magistrates take their seats. It
is Caesar's custom to provide games (called " private ")

* " Rome " must not be taken literally : these games were
held at Ravenna, where Valentinian III resided. The de-
scription which follows, though by no means without origin-
ality, is considerably influenced by Statins, Theb. VI. 389 sqq.,
which describes the chariot-race held at Nemea by the seven
chieftains on their way to Thebes.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

tunc coetus iuvenum, sed aulicorum,

Elei simulacra torva cainpi

exercet spatiantibus quadrigis.

et iam te urna petit cietque raucae 315

acclamatio sibilans coronae ;

turn qua est ianua consulumque sedes,

ambit quam paries utrimque senis

cryptis carceribusque fornicatus,

uno e quattuor axe sorte lecto 320

curvas ingrederis premens habenas.

id collega tuus simulque vobis

pars adversa facit ; micant color es,

albus vel venetus, virens rubensque,

vestra insignia, continent ministri 325

ora et lora manus iubasque tortas

cogunt flexilibus latere nodis

hortanturque obiter iuvantque blandis

ultro plausibus et voluptuosum

dictant quadrupedantibus furorem. 330

illi ad claustra fremunt repagulisque

incumbunt simul ac per obseratas

transfumant tabulas et ante cursum

campus flatibus occupatur absens.

impellunt, trepidant, trahunt, repugnant, 335

ardescunt, saliunt, timent, timentur,

nee gressum cohibent, sed inquieto

duratum pede stipitem flagellant.

tandem murmure bucinae strepentis

320. sorte e^o: forte. 321. {reraens codd.

^ i.e. of the Olympic games.

2 urna. The lot assigned to each competitor a particular
career, and hence, on this and similar occasions, a particular
chariot, as the chariots and teams were supplied by the
Emperor, and were already in their respective carceres {v. 331).

304

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

twice in that one day. Then a company of young
men, all of the Court, goes through a grim mimicry
of the field of Elis ^ with four-horse chariots racing
over the course. Now the urn ^ demanded you and
the whistling cheers of the hoarse onlookers sum-
moned you. Thereupon, in the part where the door
is and the seat of the consuls, round which there
runs a wall with six vaulted chambers on each side,
wherein are the starting-pens, you chose one of the
four chariots by lot and mounted it, laying a tight
grip on the hanging reins. Your partner ^ did the
same, so did the opposing side. Brightly gleam the
colours, white and blue, green and red, your several
badges. Servants' hands hold mouth and reins and
with knotted cords force the twisted manes to hide
themselves, and all the while they incite the steeds,
eagerly cheering them with encouraging pats and in-
stilling a rapturous frenzy. There behind the barriers
chafe those beasts, pressing against the fastenings,
while a vapoury blast comes forth between the wooden
bars and even before the race the field they have
not yet entered is filled with their panting breath.
They push, they bustle, they drag, they struggle,
they rage, they jump, they fear and are feared;
never are their feet still, but restlessly they lash the
hardened timber. At last the herald with loud blare

• Cf. 362. The four competitors were paired off, and each
competitor endeavoured to bring victory to his side by fair
means or by means which in modem times woiild be considered
foul. The " colleague " of Consentius apparently tries to force
the pace and fluster his opponents in order to leave a clear
field for his partner, who conserves the energies of his team
tmtil the time comes to make a spurt for victory. In the last
lap one of the opposing side tries to help his partner t>y an
^egious foul, with disastrous results.

305

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

suspensas tubicen vocans quadrigas 340

effundit celeres in ai'va currus.

non sic fulminis impetus trisulci,

non pulsa Scythico sagitta nervo,

non sulcus rapide cadentis astri,

non fundis Balearibus rotata 345

umquam sic liquidos poli meatus

rupit plumbea glandium procella.

cedit terra rotis et orbitarum

moto pulvere sordidatur aer ;

instant verberibus simul regent es, 350

iamque et pectora prona de covinno

extensi rapiuntur et iugales

trans armos feriunt vacante tergo,

nee cernas cito, cernuos magistros

temones mage sufferant an axes. 355

iam vos ex oculis velut volantes

consumpto spatio patentiore

campus clauserat artus arte factus.

per quem longam, humilem duplamque muro

euripus sibi machinam tetendit. 360

ut meta ulterior remisit omnes,

fit collega tuus prior duobus,

qui te transierant ; ita ipse quartus

gyri condicione tum fuisti.

curae est id mediis, ut ille primus, 365

^ It was usual to start the race from a white line made on
the course itself ; but on this occasion the start is made from
the carceres. This seems to have been the older method.

2 Euripus is applied to a canal or large tank. In some
circuses the long central barrier {spina) was filled with water.
In earUer times euripus was applied to the moat which Julius
Caesar built round the interior of the Circus Maximus to
protect the spectators when wild beasts were exhibited. This
was filled up by Nero.
306

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

of trumpet calls forth the impatient teams and
launches the fleet chariots into the field. ^ The
swoop of forked lightning, the arrow sped by Scythian
string, the trail of the swiftly-falling star, the leaden
hurricane of bullets whirled from Balearic slings has
never so rapidly split the airy paths of the sky.
The ground gives way under the wheels and the air
is smirched with the dust that rises in their track.
The drivers, while they vneld the reins, ply the lash ;
now they stretch forward over the chariots with
stooping breasts, and so they sweep along, striking
the horses' withers and leaving their backs un-
touched. With charioteers so prone it would puzzle
you to pronounce whether they were more supported
by the pole or by the wheels. Now as if flying out
of sight on wings, you had traversed the more open
part, and you were hemmed in by the space that is
cramped by craft, amid which the central barrier
has extended its long low double-walled structure.^
When the farther turning-post freed you all from
restraint once more, your partner went ahead of the
two others, who had passed you ; so then, according to
the law of the circling course, you had to take the
fourth track.3 The drivers in the middle were intent

• The races were run counter-clockwise; thus the com-
petitors had the spectators on their right and the spina on
their left. The coveted position was the inside one, i.e. the
one nearest to the spina, which gave the shortest course.
On this occasion Consentius' partner has the inside position
and Consentius the next. The two opponents get so far
ahead of Consentius that they are entitled to move inward in
front of him, and he has to change over to the outside position
(363 sq.). Having gained this advantage, the two opponents
hope that the horses of Consentius' partner will swerve out-
ward far enough to allow one of his enemies to dash in and

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

pressus dexteriore concitatu

partem si patefecerit sinistram

totas ad podium ferens habenas,

curru praetereatur intiis acto.

tu conamine duplicatus ipso 370

stringis quadriiugos et arte summa

in gyrum bene septimum reservas ;

instabant alii manu atque voce,

passim et deciduis in arva guttis

rectorum alipediimque sudor ibat. 375

raucus corda ferit fragor faventum

atque ipsis pariter viris equisque

fit cursu calor et timore frigus.

itur sic semel, itur et secundo,

est sic tertius atque quartus orbis ; 380

quinto circite non valens sequentum

pondus ferre prior retorquet axem,

quod velocibus imperans quadrigis

exhaustos sibi senserat iugales;

iam sexto reditu perexplicato 385

iamque et praemia flagitante vulgo

pars contraria nil timens tuam vim

securas prior orbitas terebat,

tensis cum subito simul lupatis,

tensis pectoribus, pede ante fixo, 390

quantum auriga suos solebat ille

raptans Oenomaum tremente Pisa,

tantum tu rapidos teris iugales.

hie compendia flexuosa metae

389. simul ego : sinum. Vid. Class. Quart., loc. cit. pp. 22 sq.

seize the inside position (365-369). In the fifth lap Consentius'
partner has to withdraw; thus the opponents secure the two
iinier tracks. Consentius, acting on the traditional principle

308

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

that if haply the first man, embarrassed by a dash of
his steeds too much to the right, should leave a space
open on the left by heading for the surrounding seats,
he should be passed by a chariot driven in on the near
side. As for you, bending double with the very force
of the effort you keep a tight rein on your team and
with consummate skill wisely reserve them for the
seventh lap. The others are busy with hand and
voice, and everywhere the sweat of drivers and flying
steeds falls in drops on to the field. The hoarse roar
from applauding partisans stirs the heart, and the
contestants, both horses and men, are warmed by
the race and chilled by fear. Thus they go once
round, then a second time ; thus goes the third lap,
thus the fourth; but in the fifth turn the foremost
man, unable to bear the pressure of his pursuers,
swerved his car aside, for he had found, as he gave
conmiand to his fleet team, that their strength was
exhausted. Now the return half of the sixth course
was completed and the crowd was already clamouring
for the award of the prizes ; your adversaries, with
no fear of any effort from you, were scouring the
track in front with never a care, when suddenly you
tautened the curbs all together, tautened your chest,
planted your feet firmly in front, and chafed the
mouths of your swift steeds as fiercely as was the
wont of that famed charioteer of old when he swept
Oenomaus ^ along with him and all Pisa trembled.
Hereupon one of the others, clinging to the shortest

that all's fair in the circus, rushes up as close as possible to
the inside car as it passes the turning-post, and succeeds in
exciting the horses, so that they plunge wildly and take a
crooked course, Consentius watches his opportunity, gains
the inside position, and dashes ahead (394-399).
1 Cf. 2. 490 sqq.

VOL, I. N

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

unus dum premit, incitatus a te 395

elatas semel impetu quadrigas

iiincto non valuit plicare gyro;

quern tu, quod sine lege praeteriret,

transisti remanens, ab arte restans.

alter dum popularitate gaudet, 400

dexter sub cuneis nlmis cucurrit.

hunc, dum obliquat iter diuque lentus

sero cornipedes citat flagello,

tortum tramite transis ipse recto.

hie te ineautius assecutus hostis 405

sperans anticipasse iam priorem

transversum venit impudens in axem;

ineurvantur equi, proterva crurum

intrat turba rotas quaterque terni

artantur radii, repleta donee 410

intervalla crepent volubilisque

frangat margo pedes ; ibi ipse quintus

curru praecipitatus obruente

montem multiplici facit ruina,

turpans prociduam cruore frontem. 415

miscet cuncta fragor resuscitatus,

quantum non cyparissifer Lycaeus,

quantum non nemorosa tollit Ossa

crebras inrequieta per procellas,

quantum nee reboant volutae ab Austro 420

Doris Trinacris aut voraginoso

^ i.e. the first-mentioned of the two opponents of Consentius,
the one whom Consentius had first passed.

2 This man's attention had been distracted {vv. 400-404)
and, seeing Consentius pass him on the inside, he assumed
that his own partner, who had occupied that position a moment
before, had gone ahead. He then attempted to simplify
that partner's path to victory by fouling Consentius' wheel

310

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

route round the turning-post, was hustled by you,
and his team, carried away beyond control by their
onward rush, could no more be wheeled round in a
harmonious course. As you saw him pass before
you in disorder, you got ahead of him by remaining
where you were, cunningly reining up. The other
adversary, exulting in the public plaudits, ran too
far to the right, close to the spectators ; then as he
turned aslant and all too late after long indifference
urged his horses with the whip, you sped straight
past your swerving rival. Then the enemy in reckless
haste overtook you and, fondly thinking that the
first man ^ had already gone ahead, shamelessly
made for your wheel with a sidelong dash. 2 His
horses were brought down, a multitude of intruding
legs entered the wheels, and the twelve spokes were
crowded, until a crackle came from those crammed
spaces and the revolving rim shattered the entangled
feet ; then he, a fifth ^ victim, flung from his chariot,
which fell upon him, caused a mountain of manifold
havoc, and blood disfigured his prostrate brow.
Thereupon arose a riot of renewed shouting such as
neither Lycaeus with its cypresses ever raises, nor
the forests of Ossa, troubled though they be by
many a hurricane ; such echoing roar as not even
the SiciUan sea, rolled onward in billows by the south
wind, gives forth, nor Propontis, whose wild deeps

Venit (407) does not mean "dashed against"; Consentius'
car could not have won after such an impact. How the blow
was eluded and how the horses were brought down we are not
told expUcitly; indeed the end of the description is so vague
that I long understood it to mean that one of the men inad-
vertently fouled his partner's car; but several things seem to
rule out this interpretation.

» " a fifth," the other four being the horses.

3"

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quae vallat sale Bosphorum Propontis.

hie mox praecipit aequus imperator

palmis serica, torquibus coronas

coniungi et meritum remunerari, 425

victis ire iubens satis pudendis

villis versicoloribus tapetas.

lam vero iuvenalibus peractis
quern te praebueris sequente in aevo,
intra aulam soceri mei expetitus 430

curam cum moderatus es Palati,
chartis posterioribus loquemur,
si plus temporibus vacat futuris ;
nunc quam diximus hospitalitatem
paucis personet obsequens Thalia. 435

O dulcis domus, o pii penates,
quos (res difficilis sibique discors)
libertas simul excolit pudorque !
o convivia, fabulae, libelli,

risus, serietas, dicacitates, 440

occursus, comitatus unus idem,
seu delubra dei colenda nobis

tecta inlustria seu videnda Livi, 445

sive ad pontificem gradus ferendi, 443

sive ad culmina Martii Myronis,
sive ad doctiloqui Leonis aedes 446

(quo bis sex tabulas docente iuris
ultro Claudius Appius lateret
claro obscurior in decemviratu ;
at si dicat epos metrimique rhythmis 450

445. transposuit Luetjohann.

^ Note the plurals; the two members of the winning
pair receive the same prizes. One of them had not finished
the course, but he had done his best for his side. Thus
unselfish " team-work " was encouraged.
312

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

are a rampart to the Bosphorus. Next the just
emperor ordered silken ribands to be added to the
victors' palms and crowns to the necklets of gold,^
and true merit to have its reward; while to the
vanquished in their sore disgrace he bade rugs of
many-coloured hair to be awarded.

As for your conduct in after-time, when the days
of youth were over, when you were welcomed to the
Court of my wife's father and were charged with the
oversight of the Palace - — of this I will tell in a later
MTiting if the future allows me more free time ; but
now let my obedient Muse proclaim in a few ringing
words the hospitality of which I have made mention.

O charming home, O holy hearth, graced by that
double glor)% so hard to win, so hard to make one —
free speech and modesty ! O feasts and talks and
books, laughter, seriousness, and witty saws, happy
meetings, and fellowship ever the same, whether
God's temple was to be reverently honoured by us
or the glorious house of Livius ^ was to be visited
or our way led to the Bishop * or to the towering
house of Martius M)to or to the house of the eloquent
Leo ! ^ (If Leo had been expounding the Twelve
Tables of the Law, Appius Claudius would have lain
low of his own accord, and in that decemvirate so
illustrious he would have been a meaner figure;
if, again, Leo should sound an epic strain, guiding

* The cura palatii entailed the oversight of the palaces and
other royal buildings. The holder of this office in the western
Empire received the rank of spectabilis. In the eastern
Empire the cura palatii was a very exalted office.

' A poet of Nar bonne.

* Probably Hermes, who succeeded Rusticus in a.d. 462.

' See 9. 314 n. Martius Myro is not otherwise known:
see n. on 9. 30H.

3^3

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

flectat commaticis tonante plectro,

mordacem faciat silere Flaccum,

quamvis post satiras lyraraque tendat

ille ad Pindarieum vol are cygnum) ;

seu nos, Magne, tuus favor tenebat, 455

multis praedite dotibus virorum,

forma, nobilitate, mente, censu

(cuius si varios earn per actus,

centum et ferrea lasset ora laude,

constans, ingeniosus efficaxque, 460

prudens arbiter, optimus propinquus,

nil fraudans genii sibi vel uUi

personas, loca, tempus intuendo) ;

seu nos atria vestra continebant,

Marcelline meus, perite legum 465

(qui, verax nimis et nimis severus,

asper crederis esse nescienti ;

at si te bene quispiam probavit,

noscit quod velit ipse iudicare ;

nam numquam metuis loqui quod aequum est, 470

si te Sulla premat ferusque Carbo,

si tristes Marii trucesque Cinnae,

et si forte tuum caput latusque

circumstent gladii triumvirales) ;

seu nos Limpidii lares habebant, 475

civis magnifici virique summi,

fratemam bene regulam sequentis ;

seu nos eximii simul tenebat

nectens officiositas Marini,

469. quidPT.

1 "Pindaric swan"; Hor. G. IV. 2. 25: the "Odes
(lyram) are those of the first three books.

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

the metre in brief measured clauses to the thundering
note of the lyre, he would force the carping Flaccus
to silence, even though that bard after his Satires
and his Odes should strive to soar to the heights of
the Pindaric swan.^) It was the same when we were
entertained by the kindliness of Magnus,^ one who is
endowed with many a manly grace, with comeliness,
birth, intellect, and wealth ; truly, were I to go
through the list of his diverse achievements, he would
wear out a hundred tongues, even tongues of iron,
with the telling of his praise — that man so staunch,
so talented, so efficient, wise mediator, best of kins-
men, stinting neither himself nor others of enjoy-
ment, regardful as he ever is of persons, places and
seasons. It was the same when we found ourselves
in the hall of my o\vn Marcellinus,^ learned in the
law, who being immeasurably truthful and strict is
deemed harsh by the ignorant; but if anyone has
proved him well, then he knows that our friend's
judgment is what he would like his own to be ;
for Marcellinus is never afraid to utter what is right —
nor would he be were Sulla or savage Carbo or gloomy
Marii or ferocious Cinnas threatening him, or if the
swords of the triumvirs flashed about his head and
side. It was the same when the home of Limpidius *
welcomed us ; a splendid patriot he and a great man,
who follows well his brother's pattern; or it might
be that the excellent Marinus * with his engaging

* Magnus of Narbonne, an eminent Gallo-Roman noble,
praefectus praeiorio Galliarum 458-9, consul 460; father of
Magnus Felix (9. 1 n.); identified by Sundwall with the
grandson of Agricola and father of Araneola (15. 151 sqq.).
See 6. 658; 14, § 2; 24. 90; Epist. I. 11. 10.

' Mentioned in Epist. II. 13. 1.

* Limpidius and Marinus are not otherwise known.

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

cuius sedulitas sodalitasque 480

aeterna mihi laude sunt colendae;

seu quoscumque alios videre fratres

cordi utrique fuit, quibus vacasse

laudandam reor occupationem ;

horum uomina cum referre versu 485

adfectus cupiat, metrum recusat.

Hinc nos ad propriam domum vocabas,
cum mane exierat novum et calescens
horam sol dabat alteram secundam.
hie promens teretes pilas trochosque, 490

hie talos erepitantibus fritillis
nos ad verbera iactuum struentes,
tamquam Naupliades, repertor artis,
gaudebas hilarem eiere rixam.

hine ad balnea, non Neroniana 495

nee quae Agrippa dedit vel ille cuius
bustum Dalmaticae vident Salonae,
ad thermas tamen ire sed libebat
privato bene praebitas pudori.

post quas nos tua pocula et tuarura 500

Musarum medius torus tenebat,
quales nee statuas imaginesque
acre aut marmoribus coloribusque
Mentor, Praxiteles, Scopas dederunt,
quantas nee Polycletus ipse finxit 505

nee fit Phidiaco figura caelo.

Sed iam te veniam loquaeitati
quingenti hendecasyllabi precantur.
tantum, etsi placeat, poema longum est.
iamiam sufficit, ipse et impediris 510

492. iactuum ego: tractuum. Vid. Glass. Quart., loc. cit.
p. 33.

316

XXIII. TO CONSENTIUS

courtesy was likewise entertaining us, a man whose
attentiveness and sociableness have earned my
everlasting praise. It was just the same if we both
took a fancy to visit any other of the brethren, to
spare time for whom I deem a glorious occupation;
but though my affection would fain record their
names in verse, metre forbids.

Afterwards you would bid us to your own home,
when the early morning had passed and the sun w ith
its gathering warmth was bringing the second hour
to second ^ our wishes. Then you would bring out
the shapely balls and hoops or the dice which with
rattling box marshal us for the hurtling throw, and
like Nauplius' son,^ inventor of the art, you would
exult in the raising of a merry quarrel. Hence to
the baths; they were not those of Nero or those
given by Agrippa or by him whose tomb Dalmatian
Salonae views,^ but we were pleased to go to baths
fittingly provided for privacy and modesty. After
the bath your cups and a couch in the midst of your
Muses would claim us : no statues or likenesses to
compare with these were ever fashioned in bronze or
marble or colours by Mentor, Praxiteles, or Scopas :
Polycletus himself did not mould any so great, nor
did Phidias with his chisel.

But now five hundred hendecasyllables crave your
pardon for their wordiness. A poem of this size,
even if it should please, is too long. Now at last
I've had enough of it; and you yourself are finding

* alteram secundam : for the pun cf. 2. 1. Others would
translate " the fourth hour."

* Palamedes, the reputed inventor of dice.

* Diocletian.

thp: poems of sidonius

multum in carmine perlegens amicum,
dorniitantibus otiosiorem.

XXIV
PROPEMPTICON AD LIBELLVM

E2:ressus foribus meis, libelle,
hanc servare viam, precor, memento,
quae nostros bene diicit ad sodales,
quorum nomina sedulus notavi ;

antiquus tibi nee teratur agger, 5

cuius per spatium satis vetustis
nomen Caesareum viret columnis ;
sed sensim gradere: et moras habendo
adfectum celerem moves amicis.

Ac primum Domiti larem severi 10

intrabis trepidantibus Camenis :
tam censorius baud fuit vel ille
quem risisse semel ferunt in aevo ;
sed gaudere potes rigore docto:
hie si te probat, omnibus placebis. 15

hinc te suscipiet benigna Brivas,
sancti quae fovet ossa luliani,
quae dum mortua mortuis putantur,
vivens e tumulo micat potestas.

hinc iam dexteriora carpis arva 20

emensusque iugum die sub uno

^ Milestones. The book is to avoid the high-road.
' A grammaticus, to whom Epist. II. 2 is addressed.

318

XXIV. L'ENVOI

it an encumbrance to read through such a long bit
of your friend in verse, a friend who is more of an
idler than a man in a doze.

XXIV
L'ENVOI

When you pass out by my door, little book, pray
remember to keep this route ; it leads conveniently
to some comrades of mine whose names I have care-
fully put down. Do not tread the old road, through
whose whole length the name of Caesar shows bright
on very old pillars ; ^ go by easy stages : by such slow
progress you can call forth prompt affection from our
friends.

First of all you shall enter the home of the strict
Domitius,^ where our Muse will be very nervous;
for even the man who, they say, laughed only once
in his life ^ was not as critical as he. Yet you may
take pleasure in his sage severity, for if he approve
of you, you will satisfy everybody. Next you shall
be taken in hand by kindly Brivas,* which cherishes
the bones of the holy Julian; those bones are
deemed dead by the dead, but a living power flashes
forth from that tomb. From here you wind through
fields more to the right, and having traversed a
hill -ridge on the same day^ on the morrow you behold

' Marcus Crassus, grandfather of the triumvir. The allega>
tion was first made by Lucilius (1299 sq. Marx).

* Brioude (Haute-Loire). St. Julian suffered martyrdom
in A.D. 304. The Emperor Avitus was buried in the church
at Brioude. " The dead " means those who are " dead in
their sins " (Coloss. 2. 13; Ephea. 2. 1).

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

flavum crastinus aspicis Triobrem;

turn terrain Gabalum satis nivosam

et, quantum indigenae volunt putari,

sublimem in puteo videbis urbem. 25

hinc te temporis ad mei Laconas

lustinum rapies suumque fratrem,

quorum notus amor per orbis ora

calcat Pirithoumque Theseumque

et fidum rabidi sodalem Orestae. 30

horum cum fueris sinu receptus,

ibis Trevidon et calumniosis

vicinum nimis, heu, iugum Rutenis.

hie docti invenies patrem Tonanti,

rectorem columenque Galliarum, 35

prisci Ferreolum parem Syagri,

coniunx Papianilla quem pudico

curas participans iuvat labore,

qualis nee Tanaquil fuit nee ilia

quam tu, Tricipitine, procreasti, 40

^ Triober, or Triobris, mod. Truyere, tributary' of the Oltis
(Lot), which is a tributary of the Garonne. The Gabales
(or Gabali ; also Gabalitani, Epist. V. 13. 2, VII. 6. 7) were an
Aquitanian people on the border of Narbonese Gaul, occupying
the N. W. slopes of the Cevennes.

2 Such local tales of wonderful things to be seen in water
are common enough. An unfounded view, perhaps suggested
by Savaron's note, that puteus here means " hill " (Fi-. puy^
which, however, comes from podium), has found general
acceptance. S. Reinach, Rev. Arch. Ser. V. I. 3 (1916),
suggests orbem for urbem and boldly takes sublimem orbem
to mean the moon, which is proverlaially invisible in French
wells.

3 i.e. the Castor and Pollux of his day.

* Epist. V. 21 is written to lustinus and his brother Sacerdos.
' Conjectured without very much reason to be mod. Treves
(Dep. Gard).

320

XXIV. L'ENVOI

the yellow Triober.^ Next you shall see the land of
the Gabales, where the snow lies deep, and, accord-
ing to what the natives would have us believe, you
will view a towering city in a wcll.^ Next you shall
hasten to those two Spartans of my time,^ lustinus
and his brother,* whose love is the theme of every
tongue in the world, thrusting into nothingness
Pirithous and Tlieseus and the faithful comrade of
mad Orestes. After they have received you with
open arms you shall go to Trevidos ^ and to the hill
which is, alas ! only too near to those slanderers,
the Ruteni.® Here you will find the father of the
learned Tonantius,^ the governor and pillar of the
Gallic lands, Ferreolus, peer of old Syagrius,® to
whom Papianilla gives all the help a good wife can,
sharing his cares — a woman surpassing Tanaquil and
the daughter of Tricipitinus ^ and that votary of

• Their town (orig. Segodunum) is the modern Rodez on the
upper course of the Aveyron, tributary of the Garonne, The
name survives also in the district-name Le Rouerge.

' To the young Tonantius Epist. IX. 13 is addressed.
His father, Tonantius Ferreolus, was related through his wife
Papianilla {v. 37) to Sidonius, whose wife had the same name.
He was a very eminent man of distinguished ancestry (Epist.
VII. 12. 1 sqq.); Praetorian Prefect of Gaul 451, when he
helped to secure Gothic support against Attila (Epist. VII.
12. 3); a little later his diplomacy saved Aries from Thoris-
mund (ib.). In a.u. 469 he was sent to Rome with Thaumastua
and Petronius to prosecute Arvandus (Epist. I. 7. 4). He
became a Patrician (the date is uncertain). Besides his estate
at Trevidos he had one called Prusianum near Nimes (Epist.
II. 9. 7).

• Afranius Syagrius of Lyons, maternal grandfather of
Tonantius Ferreolus, To him Symmachus wrote a number of
lett*!ra and Ausonius dedicated a book of poems. He was
consul in a.d. 381 (less probably 382). See Epist. I. 7. 4,
V. 17. 4.

• Lucretia, daughter of Sp. Lucretius Tricipitinus.

321

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

qualis nee Phrygiae dicata Vestae

quae contra satis Albulam tumentem

duxit virgineo ratem capillo.

hine te Laesora, Caucason Scytharum

vincens, aspiciet citusque Tarnis, 45

limosum et solido sapore pressum

piscem perspieua gerens in unda.

hie Zeti et Calais tibi adde pennas

nimbosumque iugum fugax caveto ;

namque est assiduae ferax procellae ; 50

sed quamvis rapido ferare cursu,

lassum te Vorocingus obtinebit.

nostrum hie invenies Apollinarem,

seu contra rabidi Leonis aestus

vestit frigore marmorum penates, 55

sive hortis spatiatur in repostis,

quales mellifera virent in Hybla,

quales Corycium senem beantes

fuscabat picei latex Galaesi ;

sive inter violas, thymum, ligustrum, 60

serpyllum, casiam, crocum atque caltam.

narcissos hyacinthinosque flores

spemit quam pretii petitor ampli

glaebam turifer advehit Sabaeus;

seu ficto potius specu quiescit 65

collis margine, qua nemus reflexum

nativam dare porticum laborans

non lucum arboribus facit, sed antrum.

52. vorocingus (7, voracingus PT, veracingus F.

1 Claudia, the Vestal, drew along the Tiber the boat con-
taining the image of Magna Mater from Pessinus. The idea
that she dragged it bv her hair is probably taken from Claudian,
Carm. Min. XXX. (XXIX.) 18.

322

XXI\'. L'ENVOI

Phrygian Vesta ^ who against the fiercely swelling
waters of Tiber dragged the ship by her virtuous
hair. Next Laesora,^ which overtops the Scythian
Caucasus, shall behold you ; so shall the rapid Tarnis,^
which carries in its translucent waters a fish that
haunts the mud, loaded with solid savouriness.
Here put on the wings of Zetus and Calais and take
flight from that cloudy mountain-ridge, for it is rife
x^ith constant gales. But however speedily you are
rushing along, Vorocingus * shall harbour your
wearied frame. Here you will find my dear
Apollinaris. He may be clothing his home in a cold
^Tapping of marble against the heat of the raging
Lion ; or he may be walking in his secluded gardens,
which are like those that bloom on honey-bearing
Hybla or those others, the joy of the old man of
Corycus, which the waters of black Galaesus dark-
ened;^ or there among his violets, thyme, privet,
serpyllum, casia, saffron, marigolds, narcissus, and
blooms of hyacinth he may be rejecting the earthy
lump that the Sabaean carrier of frankincense brings
from afar, seeking a great price; or he may have
chosen to rest in his mimic grotto on the edge of the
hill, where the trees take a backward sweep, striving
to make a natural portico, and thereby create not a

* A mountain, modem Lozere.
' Modern Tarn.

* \'orocingus, the estate of Apollinaris, was near the
Prusianum of Tonuntius Ferreolus (t?. 34 n.) : see Epist.
II. 9. 1 and 7. The view that this Apollinaris is identical with
the one mentioned in the n. on v. 85 (see Stevens, pp. 195f.)
raises grave diflficulties.

* An allusion to Virgil's charming description of the garden
cultivated near Tarentum by a humble Corycian, Georg. IV.
125 sqq. V. 59 is a paraphrase of Virgil, v. 126; Corycium
senem is taken from the same sentence {v. 127).

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

quis pomaria prisca regis Indi

hie nunc comparet aureasque vites 70

electro viridante pampinatas,

cum Poms posuit crepante gaza

fulvo ex palmite vineam metalli

gemmarum fluitantibus raceniis ?

Hinc tu Cottion ibis atque Avito 75

nostro dicis " ave," deliinc " valeto."
debes obsequium viro perenne ;
nam, dent hinc veniam mei propinqui,
non nobis prior est parens amico.
hinc te iam Fidulus, decus bonorum 80

et nee Tetradio latens secundus
moruni dotibus aut tenore recti,
sancta suscipit hospitalitate.
exin tende gradum Tribusque Villis
Thaumastum expete, quemlibet duorum: 85

quorum iunior est mihi sodalis
et collega simul graduque frater ;
quod si fors senior tibi invenitur,
hunc pronus prope patruum saluta.
hinc ad consulis ampla tecta Magni 90

81 . latens ego : satis. Vid. Class. Quart., loc. cit. p. 23.

^ There are many ancient and mediaeval references to
" golden vines " and similar extravagances of the East. These
became a favourite ingredient of the " Alexander-romance."
For an interesting description of such wonders in the palace of
King Porus see Epist. Alexandri ad Aristotdem, edited, with
lulius Valerius, by B. Kuebler, p. 193 ; Pfister's Kleine Texte
zum Alezanderroman, p. 22, For the "golden vine " at Jeru-
salem see Josephus B. Ivd. V. 5. 4, Tac. Hist. V. 5 ad fn.,
Flor. I. 40 (III. 5) 30. The earliest mention of such a thing
seems to be in Herodotus VII. 27.

' Cottion cannot be identified.

- A kinsman of Sidonius ; Kpist. III. 1 is addressed to him.

324

XXIV. L'ENVOI

grove but rather a cavern. In that place who would
now bring into comparison the ancient orchards of
the Indian king and the golden vines ^ with their
tendrils of verdant electrum in the days when Porus
made a metal vineyard with treasure rustling on the
yellow branches and clusters of gems swaying about ?
Thence you shall go to Cottion ^ and say to my
Avitus ' " Good-day " and then " Good-bye." To that
man you owe eternal duty, for (may my near and dear
ones forgive me for this !) I put not even a parent
before a friend. Next Fidulus,* glory of all good
men and no humble second even to Tetradius ^
in gifts of character or in steadfast rectitude, shall
receive you with pious hospitality. Thence wend
your way and at Three Manors ® visit Thaumastus —
either of the two Wonders :^ the younger is my bosom-
friend and also my colleague and in standing my
brother; but if you chance to find the elder, bow
low and salute him as almost my uncle. Hence pass
on to the spacious abode of the consul Magnus *

• Not otherwise known.

' A lawyer, to whom Epist. III. 10 is written. There is
a play on the words Tetradius (which suggests "four") and
secundus.

• Not otherwise known.

' This seems to refer to Thaumastus and his younger brother
Apoliinaris; Sidonius is punning on the word ThaumaMus,
which means " wonderful." Thaum. is mentioned in Epist.
I. 7. 4, V. 6. 1, and Epist. V. 7 is addressed to him. Apol-
iinaris is mentioned in Epist. V. 6. 1 ; Epist. IV. 6, V. 3 and 6
are written to him. These brothers were kinsmen (probably
cousins) of Sidonius. Simplicius seems to have been another
brother; Epist. IV. 4 and 12 are addressed to him and Apol-
iinaris; cf. VII. 4. 4. In V. 6. 1 Sidonius writes of Thau-
mastus in terms which remind one of the present passage.

• See 23. 455 n.

3«5

THE POEMS OF SIDONIUS

Felicemque tuum veni, libelle ;

et te bybliotheca qua paterna est,

qiialis nee tetrici fuit Philagri,

admitti faciet Probus probatum;

hie saepe Eulaliae meae legeris, 95

euius Ceeropiae pares Minervae

mores et rigidi senes et ipse

quondam purpureus socer timebant.

Sed iam sufficit: ecce linque portum;
ne te pondere plus premam saburrae, 100

his in versibus ancoram levato.

92. qua Luetjohann : quae codd.

326

XXIV. L'ENVOI

and to your friend Felix,^ O book of mine, and where
their father's library stands, a library such as not
even the austere Pliilagrius^ had, Probus,* having
given you approbation, vnW cause you to be admitted.
Here you will often be read by my kinswoman
Eulalia,* of whose character, worthy of Athenian
Minerva, strict greybeards and even her husband's
father^ in the days when he wore the purple used
to stand in awe.

But enough ! Away with you, put out from the
harbour, and, lest I weight you further with a load of
sandy ballast, up with the anchor even while these
verses sound !

^ See 9. 1 n.

* See n. on 7. 156.

=» See 9. 6 and 333 ; Epist. IV. 1 is written to him.

* Wife of Probus and cousin of Sidonius.

* Magnus. The " purple" is that of the consulship.

3*7

LETTERS OF GAIUS SOLLIUS
APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS

GAI SOLLII APOLLINARIS SIDONIl
EPISTVLARVM

LIBER PRIMVS

I

SIDOxNIVS CONSTANTIO SVO
SALVTEM

1. Diu praecipis, domine maior, summa suadendi
auctoritate, sicuti es in his quae deliberabuntur
consiliosissimus, ut, si quae mihi ^ litterae paulo
politiores varia occasione fluxerint, prout eas causa
persona tempus elicuit, omnes retractatis exemplari-
bus enucleatisque uno volumine includam, Quinti
Symmachi rotunditatem, Gai Plinii disciplinam
maturitatemque vestigiis praesumptuosis insecu-

^ mihi <»dd. R.

* This letter was written about a.d. 469. Constantius of
Lyons was a priest much admired by Sidonius for his character
(see esp. III. 2) and for his literary ability (see II. 10, 3).
He seems to be the Constantius who wrote a life of Remigius
of Auxerre, but the extant life of Remigius attributed
to him {A. SS. lul. VII., 200-220) is probably by a later
writer.

^ The respectful address domine maior seems to occur
only in Sidonius (cf. I. 11. 17, II. 3. 1, III. 6. 3, IV. 3. 1,
IV. 17. 1, VIII. 4. 1). M. B. O'Brien {TiUes of address in
Christian Latin epistolography, Washington, D.C., 1930)
wrongly attributes the use also to Claudianus Mamertus,

LETTERS OF GAIUS SOLLIUS
APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS

BOOK I

I

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND CONSTANTIUS,
GREETING *

1. My honoured Lord,^ you have this long while
been pressing me (and you have every claim on my
attention, for you are a most competent adviser on
the matters about to be discussed) to collect all the
letters making any little claim to taste that have
flowed from my pen on different occasions as this
or that affair, person, or situation called them forth,
and to revise and correct the originals and combine
all in a single book.^ In so doing, I should be
following, though with presumptuous steps, the path
traced by Quintus Symmachus ^vith his rounded
style and by Gaius Plinius with his highly-developed

misled by the fact that Sidoiiius Epist. IV. 3 is reproduced in
editions of Claudianus, to whom the letter was addressed.
The use of comparative adjectives (especially maior, jirior,
senior) in titles is derived from the use of the comparative
for the superlative, which arose early in colloquial Latin
and ultimately became fairly common in the literature.
For the use of dominus as an honorary title in letters see
the article in Thesaurus linguae Latinae, especially 1925 f.,
1929.30-1930.66; also O'Brien, o;). ctf., p. 83.
* For the meaning of volumen here see Introd., p. Ixi, n. 1.

^3»

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

turus. 2. nam de Marco TuUio silere melius puto,
quem in stilo epistulari nee ^ lulius Titianus sub
nominibus inlustrium feminarum digna similitudine
expressit ; propter quod ilium ceteri quique Fron-
tonianorum utpote consectaneum aemulati, cur
veternosum dicendi genus imitaretur, oratorum
simiam nuncupaverunt. quibus omnibus ego im-
mane dictu est quantum semper iudicio meo cesserim
quanturaque servandam singulis pronuntiaverim
temporum suorum meritorumque praerogativam.
3. sed scilicet tibi parui tuaeque examinationi has
non recensendas (hoc enim parum est) sed defae-
candas, ut aiunt, limandasque commisi, sciens te
inmodicum esse fautorem non studiorum modo
verum etiam studiosorum. quam ob rem nos nunc
perquam haesitabundos in hoc deinceps famae
pelagus impellis. 4. porro autem super huiusmodi
opusculo tutius conticueramus, contenti versuum
felicius quam peritius editorum opinione, de qua
mihi iam pridem in portu iudicii publici post livi-
dorum latratuum Scyllas enavigatas sufficientis
gloriae ancora sedet. sed si et hisce deliramentis

^ silere . . . nee. Sic Wilamowiiz; me pro melius ei
ordinem lurhatvm exhihent codd.

^ There were two writers of this name, father and son.
The reference here is evidently to the elder, who seems to
have fully earned and often received the nickname " ape " ;
see Vit. Maximin. 27. 5 : dictua est simia temporis sui, quod
cuncta esset imHatiis.

* Aemulari often means "be jealous of," sometimes, as
here, "be hostile to" or "disparage": Fronto's disciples

332

BOOK I. I. TO CONSTANTIUS

artistry. 2. Marcus Tullius, indeed, I think I had
better not mention, for even Julius Titianus ^ in his
fictitious letters of famous women failed to produce
a satisfactory copy of that writer's epistolary style,
and for his pains was called " ape of the orators "
by all the other disciples of Fronto, who were, as
might be expected, spiteful toward this member of
their own school for copying an outworn mode of
writing.^ Now in the first place I have always, in
my o^vn judgment, fallen terribly short of all the
authors I have named ; and secondly, I have always
strenuously proclaimed that we must uphold the
well-earned right of each of them to the foremost
place in his own age. 3. But you see I have obeyed
your command, and now submit to your scrutiny
these epistles of mine, not merely for revision (which
would not suffice) but also for purging, as the saying
is, and polishing ; for I know you are an enthusiastic
friend not only to literary pursuits but to men of
letters as well ; and that is why, whilst I shiver on
the brink, you are launching me upon this new sea
of ambition. 4. It would have been safer, though,
for me never to have said a word about a petty
work of this sort, and to have been content with the
reputation I won by my published verses, which
have obtained a success out of proportion to their
skill ; thus I have sailed past Scyllas with their en-
vious barkings, I have reached the harbour of public
approval, and I have long been safely anchored to a
sufficiency of fame. However, if Jealousy refrains

would have run down a man who aped Cicero's style, but they
would scarcely have been jealous of him. Oratorum (if the
reading is correct) probably means "Cicero and all his
tribe."

333

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

genuinum molarem invidia non fixerit, actutum tibi
a nobis volumina numerosiora percopiosis scatur-
ientia sermocinationibus multiplicabuntur. vale.

II

SIDONIVS AGRICOLAE SVO
SALVTEM

1. Saepenumero postulavisti ut, quia Theudorici
regis Gothorum commendat populis fama civilitatem,
litteris tibi formae suae quantitas, vitae qualitas
significaretur. pareo libens, in quantum epistularis
pagina sinit, laudans in te tarn delicatae sollicitudinis
ingenuitatem. igitur vir est et illis dignus agnosci
qui eum minus familiariter intuentur : ita personam
suam deus arbiter et ratio naturae consummatae
felicitatis dote sociata cumulaverunt ; mores autem
huiuscemodi, ut laudibus eorum nihil ne regni
quidem defrudet invidia. 2. si forma quaeratur:
corpore exacto, longissimis brevior, procerior emi-
nentiorque mediocribus. capitis apex rotundus, in
quo paululum a planitie frontis in vertieem caesaries
refuga crispatur. cervix non sedet enervis sed stat
nervis.^ geminos orbes hispidus superciliorum

^ enervis sed stat add. ego ; codd. varie turbati,

* It is generally agreed that this Agricola was a son of the
Emperor Avitus (and therefore a brother-in-law of Sidonius).
See II. 12. 1 sq. He rose to high office, perhaps to the
Praetorian Prefecture of the Gauls. Eventually he entered
the priesthood. We cannot with certainty date this letter
early in the reign of Theodorie, as many do. The last sentence
of § 9 seems to imply that Sidonius was at the Gothic court
when he wrote it; in that case it would have been quite

334

BOOK I. II. TO AGRICOLA

from fastening a jaw-tooth on these new absurdities as
well, there will straightway pour in upon you roll after
roll gushing with exuberant garrulity. Farewell.

II

SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR AGRICOLA,
GREETING *

1. Seeing that report commends to the world the
graciousness of Theodoric,^ King of the Goths, you
have often asked me to describe to you in writing
the dimensions of his person and the character of his
life. I am delighted to do so, subject to the limits
of a letter, and I appreciate the honest spirit which
prompts so nice a curiosity. Well, he is a man
who deserves to be studied even by those who are
not in close relations with him. In his build the will
of God and Nature's plan have joined together to
endow him with a supreme perfection; and his
character is such that even the jealousy which
hedges a sovereign has no power to rob it of its
glories. 2. Take first his appearance. His figure
is well-proportioned, he is shorter than the very
tall, taller and more commanding than the average
man. The top of his head is round, and on it his
curled hair retreats gently from his even forehead.
His neck is not squat and sinewless but erect and
sinewy. Each eye is encircled by a shaggy arch of

natural for Agricola to ask him for a description of Theodoric
and his ways. Even though Agricola, as the son of Avitus,
must have heard a good deal about the Gothic king, he would
be interested in riding an up-to-date record of Sidonius's
impressions.

1 Theodoric II. (reigned a.d. 453^66).

335

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

coronat arcus; si vero cilia flectantur, ad malas
medias palpebrarum margo prope pervenit, aurium
legulae, sicut mos gentis est, crinium superiacentium
flagellis operiuntur. nasus venustissime incurvus.
labra subtilia nee dilatatis oris angulis ampliata. pilis
infra narium antra fruticantibus cotidiana succisio.
barba concavis hirta temporibus, quam in subdita
vultus parte surgentem stirpitus tonsor assiduus
genis ut adhuc vesticipibus evellit. 3. menti, gut-
turis, colli, non obesi sed suculenti, lactea cutis, quae
propius inspecta iuvenali rubore sufFunditur ; namque
hunc illi crebro colorem non ira sed verecundia facit.
teretes umeri, validi lacerti, dura bracchia, patulae
manus, recedente alvo pectus excedens.^ aream
dorsi humilior inter excrementa costarum spina
discriminat. tuberosum est utrumque musculis
prominentibus latus. in succinctis regnat vigor
ilibus. corneum femur, internodia poplitum bene
mascula, maximus in minime rugosis genibus honor ;
crura suris fulta turgentibus et, qui magna sustentat
membra, pes modicus. 4. si actionem diurnam,
quae est forinsecus exposita, perquiras : antelucanos
sacerdotum suorum coetus minimo comitatu expetit,
grandi sedulitate veneratur; quamquam, si sermo

* excedens Luetjohann : accedens.

^ i.e. he does not let his moustache grow.

336

BOOK I. II. TO AGRICOLA

brow; when his eyelids droop, the extremities of
the lashes reach almost half-way do\vn the cheeks.
The tips of his ears, according to national fashion,
are hidden by wisps of hair that are trained over
them. His nose is most gracefully curved ; his lips
are delicately moulded and are not enlarged by any
extension of the corners of the mouth. Every day
there is a clipping of the bristles that sprout beneath
the nostril-cavities.^ The hair on his face grows
heavily in the hollows of the temples, but as it
springs up upon the lowest part of the face the
barber constantly roots it out from the cheeks,
keeping them as though they were still in the
earliest stage of manly growth. 3. His chin, throat
and neck suggest not fat but fullness; the skin is
milk-white, but if closely looked at it takes on a
youthful blush, for this tint is frequently produced
in his case by modesty, not by ill-temper. His
shoulders are well-shaped, his upper arms sturdy,
his forearms hard, his hands broad. The chest is
prominent, the stomach recedes ; the surface of his
back is divided by a spine that lies low between
the bulging ribs; his sides swell with protuberant
muscles. Strength reigns in his well-girt loins.
His thigh is hard as horn ; the upper legs from joint
to joint are full of manly vigour; his knees are
completely free from wrinkles and full of grace ; the
legs have the support of sturdy calves, but the feet
which bear the weight of such mighty limbs are of
no great size. 4. And now you may want to know
all about his everyday life, which is open to the
public gaze. Before dawn he goes with a very small
retinue to the service conducted by the priests of
his faith, and he worships with great earnestness,

337

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

secretus, possis animo advertere quod servet istam
pro consuetudine potius quam pro ratione reveren-
tiam. reliquum mane regni administrandi cura
sibi deputat. circumsistit sellam comes armiger ;
pellitorum turba satellitum ne absit, admittitur, ne
obstrepat, eliminatur, sicque pro foribus immurmurat
exclusa veils, inclusa cancellis. inter haec Intro-
missis gentium legationibus audit plurima, pauca
respondet ; si quid tractabitur, dlfFert ; si quid
expedietur, accelerat. hora est secunda: surgit e
solio aut thesauris inspiciendis vacaturus aut stabulls.
5. si venatione nuntiata procedit, arcum lateri
innectere citra gravitatem regiam iudicat ; quem
tamen, si comminus avem feramque aut venanti aut
vianti fors obtulerit, manui post tergum reflexae
puer inserit nervo lorove fluitantibus; quem sicut
puerile computat gestare thecatum, ita muliebre
accipere iam tensum. igitur acceptum modo sinu-
atis ^ e regione capitibus intendit, modo ad talum
pendulum nodi parte conversa languentem chordae
laqueum vagantis digito superlabente prosequitur ;
et mox spicula capit implet expellit ; quidve cupias
percuti prior admonet ut eligas ^ ; eligis quid feriat :

^ sinuatis FR : insinuatis.
* ut eligas add. ego.

^ Or possibly " if one talks to him in private."
* One end of the string is permanently knotted to one
" horn " of the bow, the other end has a loop, which can be
easily slipped on to the other horn. Theodoric raises one foot,
keeping the heel on the ground, and rests the strung end of the
bow on that foot, while the other end rests against his body
or is firmly held in one hand. He then stoops, bending the bow
at the same time. Taking hold of the string at the end where
it is tied to the bow, he runs his fingers along it, thus

BOOK I. II. TO AbRICOLA

though (between ourselves i) one can see that this
devotion is a matter of routine rather than of con-
viction. The administrative duties of his sovereignty
claim the rest of the morning. Nobles in armour
have places near his throne ; a crowd of guards in
their dress of skins is allowed in so as to be at
hand, but excluded from the presence so as not to
disturb; and so they keep up a hum of conver-
sation by the door, outside the curtains but within
the barriers. Meanwhile deputations from various
peoples are introduced, and he listens to a great
deal of talk, but replies shortly, postponing business
which he intends to consider, speeding that which is
to be promptly settled. The second hour comes : he
rises from his throne, to pass an interval in inspect-
ing his treasures or his stables. 5. When a hunt has
been proclaimed and he sallies forth, he considers it
beneath his royal dignity to have his bow slung at
his side ; but if in the chase or on the road chance
presents bird or beast within his range, he puts his
hand behind his back, and an attendant places the
bow in it, with the string or thong hanging loose ;
for he thinks it childish to carry the bow in a case,
and womanish to take it over ready strung. When
he takes it he either holds it straight in front of him
and bends the two ends and so strings it, or he rests
upon his raised foot the end which has the knot,
and runs his finger along the loose spring until he
comes to the dangling loop ; ^ then he takes up the
arrows, sets them in place, and lets them fly. Or
he may urge you first to choose what quarry you
wish to be struck down : you choose what he is to

straightening it out, until they reach the loop, which he
duly attaches.

339

THE LETtERS OF SIDONIUS

quod elegeris ferit; et, si ab alterutro errandum est,
rarius fallitur figentis ictus quam destinantis obtutus.
0. si in convivium venitur, quod quidem diebus
profestis simile privato est, non ibi impolitam con-
geriem liventis argenti mensis cedentibus suspiriosus
minister imponit; maximum tunc pondus in verbis
est, quippe cum illic aut nulla narrentur aut seria.
toreumatum peripetasmatumque modo conchyliata
profertur supellex, modo byssina. cibi arte, non
pretio placent, fercula nitore, non pondere. scypho-
rum paterarumque raras oblationes facilius est ut
accuset sitis quam recuset ebrietas. quid multis?
videas ibi elegantiam Graecam abundantiam Galli-
canam celeritatem Italam, publicam pompam priva-
tam diligentiam regiam disciplinam. de luxu autem
illo sabbatario narrationi meae supersedendum est,
qui nee latentes potest latere personas. 7. ad
coepta redeatur. dapibus expleto somnus meridia-
nus saepe nuUus, semper exiguus. quibus horis viro

* Toreuma should mean a piece of ornamental metal-work,
e.g. a chased vase or cup; but Sirmond is undoubtedly right
in thinking that Sidonius connected the word with torus,
as did Prudentius {Psychom. 370) and Salvian {Ad Ecd. IV.
33). For other examples in Sidonius see II. 13. 6, IX. 13. 5
V. 14. Sirmond takes it to mean the coverings of the couch,
but this does not suit the epithet sericatum, " covered with
silk," in Bk. II., and the expression ruiilum toreuma hysso in
Bk. IX., loc. cit., does not favour, though it does not absolutely
exclude, such an interpretation. All difficulty disappears if we
suppose that the word was regarded as an ornate substitute for
toniSy " couch," or, more strictly, the mattress of the couch,
over which a covering {peristroma) was placed. Peripetasma
is applied to a spreading drapery, whether a hanging or a
covering. Here the reference is probably to the perisiromata,
which often hung down far over the side of the couch, and

340

BOOK I. II. TO AGKICOLA

strike, and he strikes what you have chosen. Should
a mistake be made by either, it is more often the
eyesight of the selector than the aim of the bowman
that is at fault. 6. When one joins him at dinner
(which on all but festival days is just like that of a
private household), there is no unpolished conglomer-
ation of discoloured old silver set by panting attend-
ants on sagging tables; the weightiest thing on
these occasions is the conversation, for there are
either no stories or only serious ones. The couches,
with their spreading draperies, show an array
sometimes of scarlet cloth, sometimes of fine linen.^
The viands attract by their skilful cookeiy, not by
tlieir costliness, the platters by their brightness, not
by their weight. Replenishment of the goblets or
wine-bowls comes at such long intervals that there
is more reason for the thirsty to complain than for
the intoxicated to refrain. To sum up : you can
find there Greek elegance, Gallic plenty, Italian
briskness ; the dignity of state, the attentiveness of
a private home, the ordered discipline of royalty.
But as to the luxury of the days of festival I had
better hold my tongue, for even persons of no
note cannot fail to note it. 7. To resume the
story : after satisfying his appetite he never takes
more than a short midday sleep, and often goes
without it. In the hours when the gaming-board *

toreumoUum peripetasmatumque may be regarded as a
hendiadys.

* Tabula may here be used for tabula Itisoria or as the name
of a particular board-game, on which see R. G. Austin in
Greece and Rome IV. (1935), pp. 77-79. In any case the
game described in this passage is one of those in which both
dice and pieces were used, as in the various forms of
backgammon.

341

VOL, I. O

THE LETI^ERS OF SIDONIUS

tabula cordi, tesseras coUigit rapide, inspicit sollicite,
volvit argute, mittit instanter, ioculanter compellat,
patienter exspectat. in bonis iactibus tacet, in
malis ridet, in neutris irascitur, in utrisque philo-
sophatur. secundas fastidit vel timere vel facere,
quarum opportunitates spernit oblatas, transit
oppositas. sine motu evaditur, sine colludio evadit.
putes ilium et in calculis arma tractate : sola est
illi cura vincendi. 8. cum ludendum est, regiam
sequestrat tantisper severitatem, hortatur ad ludum
libertatem communionemque. dicam quod sentio:
timet timeri, denique oblectatur commotione
superati et tum demum credit sibi non cessisse
collegam, cum fidem fecerit victoriae suae bilis
aliena. quodque mirere, saepe ilia laetitia minimis
occasionibus veniens ingentium negotiorum merita
fortunat. tunc petitionibus diu ante per patro-
ciniorum naufragia iactatis absolutionis subitae
portus aperitur; tunc etiam ego aliquid obsecra-
turus feliciter vincor, quando mihi ad hoc tabula
perit, ut causa salvetur. 9. circa nonam recrudescit
molis ilia regnandi. redeunt pulsantes, redeunt

^ We do not know enough about the game to understand this.
Secundae (sc. tesseracl) is obviously a technical term. Prob-
ably at certain junctures the player was allowed the option
of a second throw. The translation given of oppositas accords
with Dr. Semple's view.

' Tabula may here b« the name of the game, but more
probably it is a collective term for a player's pieces, as

342

BOOK I. II. TO AGRICOLA

attracts him he is quick to pick up the dice; he
examines them anxiously, spins them with finesse,
throws them eagerly; he addresses them jestingly
and calmly awaits the result. If the throw is lucky,
he says nothing ; if unlucky, he smiles ; in neither
case does he lose his temper, in either case he is a
real philosopher. As for a second throw, he is too
proud either to fear it or to make it ; when a chance
of one is presented he disdains it, when it is used
against him he ignores it.^ He sees his opponent's
piece escape "\vithout stirring, and gets his own free
without being played up to. You would actually think
he was handling weapons when he handles the pieces
on the board ; his sole thought is of victory. 8. When
it is the time for play he throws oft' for a while the
stern mood of royalty and encourages fun and free-
dom and good-fellowship. My own opinion is that
he dreads being feared. Further, he is delighted
at seeing his defeated rival disgruntled, and it is
only his opponent's ill-temper which really satisfies
him that the game has not been given him. Now
comes something to surprise you; the exultation
which comes upon him on these trivial occasions
often speeds the claims of important transactions.
At such times the haven of a prompt decision is
thrown open to petitions which have for a long
time previously been in distress through the founder-
ing of their advocates. I myself at such times, if
I have a favour to ask, find it fortunate to be
beaten by him, for I lose my pieces ^ to win my
cause. 9. About the ninth hour the burden of royal
business is taken up afresh. Back come the im-

ferire was a technical term in such games for "to be
taken."

345

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

summoventes ; ubique litigiosus fremit ambitus,
qui tractus in vesperam cena regia interpellante
rarescit et per aulicos deinceps pro patronorum
varietate dispergitur, usque ad tempus concubiae
noctis excubaturus. sane intromittuntur, quam-
quam raro, inter cenandum mimici sales, ita ut
nuUus conviva mordacis linguae felle feriatur; sic
tamen quod illic nee organa hydraulica sonant nee
sub phonasco vocalium concentus meditatum acroama
simul intonat; nullus ibi lyristes choraules meso-
chorus tympanistria psaltria canit, rege solum illis
fidibus delenito, quibus non minus mulcet virtus
animum quam cantus auditum. 10. cum surrexerit,
inchoat nocturnas aulica gaza custodias; armati
regiae domus aditibus assistunt, quibus horae primi
soporis vigilabuntur. sed iam quid meas istud ad
partes, qui tibi indicanda non multa de regno sed
pauca de rege promisi? simul et stilo finem fieri
decet, quia et tu cognoscere viri non amplius quam
studia personamque voluisti et ego non historiam
sed epistulam efficere curavi. vale.

344

BOOK I. II. TO AGRICOLA

portunate petitioners, back come the marshals to
drive them off; everywhere the rivalry of the dis-
putants makes an uproar. This continues till even-
ing; then the royal supper interrupts and the
bustle fades away, distributing itself among the
various courtiers whose patronage this or that party
enjoys; and thus they keep watch till the night-
watches. It is true that occasionally (not often) the
banter of Iom' comedians is admitted during supper,
though they are not allowed to assail any guest with
the gall of a biting tongue. In any case no hydrauUc
organs are heard there, nor does any concert-party
under its trainer boom forth a set performance in
chorus ; there is no music of lyrist, flautist or dance-
conductor, tambourine-girl or female citharist ; for the
king finds a charm only in the string music which com-
forts the soul with virtue just as much as it soothes
the ear with melody. 10. When he rises from the
table, the night-watch is first posted at the royal
treasury and armed sentries are set at the entrances
to the palace, who will keep guard through the
hours of the first sleep.

But I have already exceeded my part, for I
promised to tell you a little about the king, not a
long story about his rule; it is also fitting that my
pen should come to a stop because you desired to
hear only of the tastes and personality of the great
man and because I took it upon myself to write a
letter, not a history. Farewell.

3+5

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

III

SIDONIVS PHILOMATHIO SVO
SALVTEM

1. I nunc et legibus me ambitus interrogatum
senatu move, cur adipiscendae dignitati hereditariae
curis pervigilibus incumbam; cui pater socer avus
proavus praefecturis urbanis praetorianisque, magis-
teriis Palatinis militaribusque micuerunt. 2. et
ecce Gaudentius meus, hactenus tantum tribunicius,
oscitantem nostrorum civium desidiam vicariano apice
transcendit. mussitat quidem iuvenum nostrorum
calcata generositas, sed qui transiit derogantes in
hoc solum movetur, ut gaudeat. igitur venerantur
hucusque contemptum ac subitae stupentes dona

* Philomathius is mentioned in V. 1 7. 7. It is unfortunately
impossible to date this letter, as we do not know when
Gaudentius held the vicariate referred to.

^ There is no other evidence that the great-grandfather
of Sidonius held any such public office, or that any of the kins-
men referred to ever held the Prefecture of the City ; Sidonius
himself held it in a.d. 468. Magisterium was the office of a
magister, and mag. mil. obviously refers to the magisterium
militum held by Avitus (Introd., p. xx, Carm. 7. 377 sq.,
n. on 359 sqq.), but Palatinis m/igisteriis is puzzling. We do
not read elsewhere that any relation of Sidonius was ever
mugister officiorum or one of the mxigistri scriniorum (on these
offices see Bury, I. p. 29). It is just possible, though scarcely
likely, that Sidonius's father held one of these posts after being
trihimus et notarius, under Honorius, or, if he became chief
{primicerius) of the tribuni et notarii, he may have received
the honorary title of magister officiorum on his retirement
from office, as seems sometimes to have happened. Or did
the mysterious great-grandfather hold one of those offices?
On the whole, it seems probable that when Sidonius says

BOOK I. III. TO PHILOMATHIUS

III

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND PHILOMATHIUS,
GREETING *

1. Go to now — indict me by the Electoral Cor-
ruption Acts and propose my dismissal from the
Senate for striving with unsleeping labours to win
a hereditary position, seeing that my father, my
father-in-law, my grandfather and my great-grand-
father won the distinctions of praetorian and city
prefectures and Masterships at court and in the
army.^ 2. And lo ! my friend Gaudentius, till now
only of tribunician rank, has overclimbed the yawn-
ing idleness of our countrymen by winning the
dignity of a vicarius.^ Of course our young lord-
lings are muttering about " trampling on good
birth," but when a man has risen over the heads of
backbiters the only effect on him is a feeling of
elation. So they worship a man whom till yester-
day they belittled, and, full of wonderment at the

" Palatine and military Masterships " he is speaking loosely
and grandiloquently of a Mastership of soldiers and the
"Palatine" post of irihunus et notarius. The name "Pala-
tine " was applied to ofi&ces connected with the great depart-
ments of the Imperial civil service which had their head-
quarters at Rome under the immediate control of the Emperor.
* He had been trihunus et notarius (on this office see Bury I.
23, C.M.H. I. 38), and was now Vicarius Septem Provinciarum
per Gallias. The provinces in each praetorian prefecture
were grouped so as to form a number of dioceses (dioeceses),
each of which was administered by a vicarius. The Septem
Provinciae were Vienneiisis, Narbonensis I and II, Novem
Populi (Novem populana). Aquitanica I and II, Alpes Mari-
timae; but the Vicarius Septem Provinciarum seems at this
time to have exercised supervision over all the Gallic provinces.

347

THE LETfERS OF SIDONIUS

fortunae quem consessu despiciebant, sede suspi-
ciunt. ille obiter stertentum oblatratorum aures
rauci voce praeconis everberat, qui in eum licet
stimulis inimicalibiis excitentur, scamnis tamen
amicalibus deputabuntur. 3. unde te etiam par
fuerit privilegio consiliorum praefecturae, in quae
participanda deposceris, antiquati honoris perniciter
sarcire dispendium, ne, si extra praerogativam
consiliarii in concilium veneris, solas vicariorum vices
egisse videare. vale.

IV

SIDONIVS GAVDENTIO SVO
SALVTEM

1. Macte esto, vir amplissime, fascibus partis dote
meritorum; quorum ut titulis apicibusque potiare
non maternos reditus, non a vitas largitiones, non
uxorias gemmas, non paternas pecunias numeravisti,
quia tibi e contrario apud principis domum inspecta
sinceritas, spectata sedulitas, admissa sodalitas laudi
fuere. o terque quaterque beatum te, de cuius

^ He had apparently been assessor to the Vicarius.

* The counsellors {consiliarii), or assessors (adsessores), of
the Praetorian Prefect had a position of great dignity. At the
end of their year of office they received many privileges, and
ranked with the Vicarii.

348

BOOK I. IV. TO GAUDENTIUS

gifts of an unexpected fortune, they look up to him in
the iuda:ment-seat, though they used to look down on
him when he was seated by their side. Meanwhile
the lucky man makes the husky usher's yells beat
upon the ears of those stertorous snarlers ; but
although they are goaded by feelings of enmity
towards him they will be given places on the benches
reserved for his friends. 3. So it will be the proper
course for you also to repair promptly the loss of
your expired office ^ by accepting the earnest invi-
tation addressed to you to occupy the favoured
position of Counsellor to the Prefect ; ^ for if you
come to the Council ^ without the special standing
of a counsellor you will be looked upon only as one
who has acted as deputy vicarius. Farewell.

IV

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND GAUDENTIUS,
GREETING

1. Congratulations, my noble friend, on the office
you have won through the dower of your deserts.
To win its titles and glories you have not expended
a mother's rent-roll, a grandfather's bounty, a wife's
jewels or a father's capital ; but on the contrary you
have won distinction in an emperor's household by
well-tested honesty, well-attested assiduity and an
approved claim to intimacy. " O three and four times
happy thou "* by whose elevation joy is brought to
your friends, punishment to your detractors and dis-

' The Concilium Septem Provinciarum (Introd., p. xii).
* Virg. Aen. I. 94.

349

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

culniine datur amicis laetitia, lividis poena, posteris
gloria, turn praeterea vegetis et alacribus exemplum,
desidibus et pigris incitamentum ; et tamen, si qui
sunt qui te quocumque animo deinceps aemula-
buntur, sibi forsitan, si te consequantur, debeant.
tibi debebunt procul dubio quod sequuntur.

2. spectare mihi videor bonorum pace praefata illam
in invidis ignaviam superbientem et illud militandi
inertibus familiare tastidium, cum a desperatione
crescendi inter bibendum philosophantes ferias
inhonoratorum laudant, vitio desidiae, non studio
perfectionis . . .

* * ♦

3. . . . appetitus, ne adhuc pueris usui foret,
maiorum iudicio reiciebatur; sic adulescentum
declamatiunculas pannis textilibus comparantes intel-
legebant eloquia iuvenum laboriosius brevia produci
quam porrecta succidi. sed hinc quia istaec satis,
quod subest, quaeso reminiscaris velle me tibi studii
huiusce vicissitudinem reponderare, modo me actioni-
bus iustis deus annuens et sospitem praestet et
reducem. vale.

1 The end of this letter and the beginning of another (of
which § 3 is the concliision) have apparently been lost.

350

BOOK I. IV. TO GAUDKNTIUS

tinction to your posterity ; an example, moreover, to
the energetic and zealous and a spur to the idle and
lazy. And certainly if others in their turn, no
matter in what spirit, become your rivals, such
people, though they may claim credit to themselves
if they catch up with you, will certainly owe it to
you that they follow in your path. 2. I picture
myself looking on (I say this with all respect to the
better sort) at the combination of arrogance and
indolence among your ill-wdshers, and at that dis-
dain of public service which is characteristic of the
slothful, when, hopeless themselves of rising in the
world, they play the philosopher over their wine
and praise the leisured lives of those who hold no
office, — not from any eagerness for perfection but
simply through vicious indolence.^

* •«• *

3. Indeed the judgment of our ancestors condemned
the straining after . . . lest it should be taken
advantage of by mere boys. They compared the
short rhetorical exercises of striplings with pieces of
cloth, meaning that it is harder to lengthen the
compositions of young students if too short than to
cut them down if too long. But I have said enough
on this matter: now as to what lies at the bottom
of my remarks — please remember that I am most
anxious to repay this zeal of yours by giving like for
like, provided only that God, who rewards righteous
efforts, keeps me safe and brings me home.
Farewell.

351

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

SIDONIVS HERONIQi SVO
SALVTEM

1. Litteras tuas Romae positus accepi, quibus an
secundum commune consilium sese peregrinationis
meae coepta promoveant, soUicitus inquiris, viam
etiam qualem qualiterque confecerim, quos aut
fluvios viderim poetarum carminibus inlustres aut
urbes moenium situ inclitas aut montes numinum
opinione vulgatos aut campos proeliorum replica-
tione monstrabiles, quia voluptuosum censeas quae
lectione compereris eorum qui inspexerint fideliore
didicisse memoratu. quocirca gaudeo te quid agam
cupere cognoscere ; namque huiuscemodi studium
de adfectu interiore proficiscitur. ilicet, etsi secus
quaepiam, sub ope tamen dei ordiar a secundis,
quibus primordiis maiores nostri etiam sinisteri-
tatum suarum relationes evolvere auspicabantur.
2. egresso mihi Rhodanusiae nostrae moenibus publi-
cus cursus Usui fuit utpote sacris apicibus accito, et
quidem per domicilia sodalium propinquorumque ;
ubi sane vianti moram non veredorum paucitas sed
amicorum multitudo faciebat, quae mihi arto implicita
complexu itum reditumque felicem certantibus votis

1 herenio LNT.

* On the occasion of this letter and of No. 9 below see
Introd., p. xl. Nothing is known of Heronius beyond what
may be gathered from these two letters.

^ On the meaning of ilicet see n. on Carm. 2. 332.

* Lugdunum (Lyons), situated at the confluence of the
Rhodanus (Rhone) and the Arar (Sa6ne).

352

BOOK I. V. TO HERONIUS

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND HERONIUS,
GREETING *

1. I received your letter after I had settled down
at Rome. I see that you inquire anxiously whether
the objects of my journey are prospering according
to our common plan. You ask also what the route
was like and in what manner I travelled over it,
what rivers I viewed made famous by the songs of
poets, what cities renowned for their situation, what
mountains celebrated as the reputed haunts of
deities, what fields claiming the interest of the sight-
seer by reason of their memories of battles; for
having learnt of these things in books you think it
would be a pleasure (so you tell me) to have a more
faithful account from those who have seen them with
their own eyes. I am delighted therefore that you
long to learn how I fare, for interest of this kind pro-
ceeds from heartfelt affection. Well,^ though some
things went wrong, I will begin by God's help with
my good news ; for our ancestors too made it a rule
to begin with such, as forming an auspicious start
even for a narrative of their misfortunes. 2. When
I passed the gates of our native Rhodanusia ^ I found
the state-post at my disposal as one summoned by
an imperial letter, and, moreover, the homes of
intimate friends and relations lined the route;
delays on my journey were due not to scarcity of
post-horses but to multiplicity of friends, who clasped
me to their hearts and vied with one another in their
prayers on my behalf for a prosperous journey and

353

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

conprecabatur. sic Alpium iugis appropinquatum ;
quarum mihi citiis et facilis ascensus et inter utrimque
terrentis latera praerupti cavatis in callem nivibus
itinera mollita. 3. fluviorum quoque, si qui non
navigabiles, vada commoda, vel certe pervii pontes,
quos antiquitas a fundamentis ad usque aggerem
caleabili silice crustatum crypticis arcubus fornicavit.
Ticini cursoriam (sic navigio nomen) escendi, qua
in Eridanum brevi delatus cantatas saepe comissaliter
nobis Phaethontiadas et commenticias arborei metalli
lacrimas risi. 4. ulvosum Lambrum caerulum Ad-
duam, velocem Athesim pigrum Mincium, qui
Ligusticis Euganeisque montibus oriebantur, paulum
per ostia adversa subvectus in suis etiam gurgitibus
inspexi ; quorum ripae torique passim quernis
acernisque nemoribus vestiebantur. hie avium re-
sonans dulce concentus, quibus nunc in concavis
harundinibus, nunc quoque in iuncis pungentibus,
nunc et in scirpis enodibus nidorum struis imposita
nutabat; quae cuncta virgulta tumultuatim super
amnicos margines soli bibuli suco fota fruticaverant.
5. atque obiter Cremonam praevectus adveni, cuius
est olim Tityro Mantuano largum suspirata proxi-
mitas. Brixillum dein oppidum, dum succedenti

1 Pavia.

* Cursoria (sc. navis), so called from being employed on
the Imperial postal service {ciirsus pnhlicus).

8 The Po. On its banks, according to the legend, the sisters
of Phaethon were turned into poplars and their tears into
amber.

* The modem names of these rivers are Lambro, Adda,
Adige, Miiicio.

5 Virg. Ec. IX. 28, Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina
Cremonae. The words are uttered by Moeris, not Tityrus,
but Tityrus to Sidonius generally means the Virgil of the
Eclogues : cf. Carm. 4. 1.

354

BOOK I. V. TO HERONIUS

homecoming. In this way I drew near to the heights
of the Alps. I found the ascent quick and easy ;
between walls of terrifying precipice on either side,
travelling had been simplified by cutting a pathway
through the snow. 3. As to the rivers, I found
that such of them as were not navigable had con-
venient fords or at any rate bridges fit for traffic :
these our forefathers have constructed on a series of
vaulted arches reaching from the foundations up to
the roadway with its cobbled surface. At Ticinum ^
I went on board a packet-boat ^ (so they call the vessel)
and travelled quickly down-stream to the Eridanus,^
where I had my laugh over Phaethon's sisters, of
whom we have often sung amidst our revels, and
over those mythical tears of arboreal ore. 4. I
passed the sedgy Lambrus, the blue Addua, the swift
Athesis, and the sluggish Mincius,* rivers which have
their sources in the mountains of Liguria and the
Euganeans. In each case I cruised a little way up-
stream from the point of confluence so as to view
each actually in the midst of its own waters. Their
banks and knolls were everywhere clad with groves
of oak and maple. A concert of birds filled the air
with sweet sounds ; their nest-structures quivered,
balanced sometimes on hollow reeds, sometimes on
prickly rushes, sometimes too on smooth bulrushes: for
all this undergrowth, nourished on the moisture of the
spongy soil, had sprouted confusedly along the river
banks. 5. Proceeding on my way I came to Cremona,
whose nearness caused Mantua's Tityrus to sigh
profoundly in days of old.^ Next we entered the
town of Brixillum ^ only to quit it, just allowing time

• Brescello, on the right bank of the Po.

355

THE LETIERS OF SIDONIUS

Aemiliano nautae decedit Venetus remex, tan turn
ut exiremus intravimus, Ravennam paulo post cursu
dexteriore subeuntes; quo loci veterem civitatem
novumque portum media via Caesaris ambigas utrum
conectat an separet. insuper oppidum duplex pars
interluit Padi, [certa] ^ pars alluit; qui ab alveo
principali molium publicarum discerptus obiectu et
per easdem derivatis tramitibus exhaustus sic
dividua fluenta partitur ut praebeant moenibus
circumfusa praesidium, infusa commercium. 6. hie
cum peropportuna cuncta mercatui, tum praecipue
quod esui competeret, deferebatur ; nisi quod, cum
sese hinc salsum portis pelagus impingeret, hinc
cloacali pulte fossarum discursu lintrium ventilata
ipse lentati languidus lapsus umoris nauticis cuspidi-
bus foraminato fundi glutino sordidaretur, in medio
undarum sitiebamus, quia nusquam vel aquae-
ductuum liquor integer vel cisterna defaecabilis
vel fons inriguus vel puteus inlimis. 7. unde pro-
gressis ad Rubiconem ventum, qui originem nomini
de glarearum colore puniceo mutuabatur quique olim
Gallis cisalpinis Italisque veteribus terminus erat,
cum populis utrisque Hadriatici maris oppida divisui
fuere. hinc Ariminum Fanumque perveni, illud

1 certa sedusi; ex gloss, cetera corruptela orta videtur.

^ The harbour constructed by Augustus as a naval 8tati<m
was connected with the old town, which was three miles
distant, by a causeway, here called " Caesar's road." A large
suburb which grew up between the old town and the harbour-
town (Portus Classis, or simply Classis) was called Caesarea.

* Great confusion has been imported into this sentence
through taking insuper as a preposition. The " double
town " is the old town, which is divided into two by the
branch of the Po which runs through it.

BOOK I. V. TO HERONIUS

for our oarsmen, who were Veneti, to give up their
places to boatmen of Aemilia, and a little later we
reached Ravenna, on a course bearing to the right.
Here Caesar's road ^ runs between the old town and
the new harbour; one could scarcely say whether
it joins or parts them. Moreover, one branch of
the Padus flows through this double town, another
flows by it ; 2 for the river is diverted from its main
bed by the intervention of the city embankments,
along whose course are various branch channels
which draw off more and more of the stream. The
effect of this division is that the waters which encircle
the walls provide protection, while those which flow
into the town bring commerce. 6. The whole situa-
tion is most favourable to trade, and in particular
we saw large food-supplies coming in. But there
was one drawback : on one side the briny sea-water
rushed up to the gates, and elsewhere the sewer-
like filth of the channels was churned up by the
boat-traffic, and the bargemen's poles, boring into
the glue at the bottom, helped to befoul the current,
slow and sluggish at the best : the result was that
we went thirsty though surrounded by water ,^ finding
nowhere pure water from aqueducts, nowhere a filth-
proof reservoir, nowhere a bubbling spring or mud-
free well. 7. Lea\'ing this place we travelled to the
Rubicon ; the name is derived from the red tint
of its gravel. This used to be the dividing Une
between Cisalpine Gaul and the old Italy, the
towns on the Adriatic coast being divided between
the two peoples. From this point I came on to
Ariminum and Fanum, the former place celebrated

' For this aspersion cf. I. 8. 2, and see note on Carm. 9.
298.

357

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

luliana rebellione memorabile, hoc Hasdrubaliano
funere infectum: siquidem illic Metaurus, cuius ita
in longum felicitas uno die parta porrigitur, ac si
etiam nunc Dalmatico salo cadavera sanguinulenta
decoloratis gurgitibus inferret. 8. hinc cetera
Flaminiae oppida statim ut ingrediebar egressus
laevo Picentes, dextro Vmbros latere transmisi;
ubi mihi seu Calaber Atabulus seu pestilens regio
Tuscorum spiritu aeris venenatis flatibus inebriate
et modo calores alternante, modo frigora vaporatum
corpus infecit. interea febris sitisque penitissimum
cordis meduUarumque secretum depopulabantur ;
quarum aviditati non solum amoena fontium aut
abstrusa puteorum, quamquam haec quoque, sed
tota ilia vel vicina vel obvia fluenta, id est vitrea
Velini gelida Clitumni, Anienis caerula Naris sulpurea,
pura Fabaris turbida Tiberis, metu tamen desiderium
fallente, pollicebamur. 9. inter haec patuit et
Roma conspectui ; cuius mihi non solum formas
verum etiam naumachias videbar epotaturus. ubi
priusquam vel pomoeria contingerem, triumphalibus
apostolorum liminibus adfusus omnem protinus

^ After crossing the Rubicon, Caesar promptly occupied
Ariminum (Rimini). Fanum Fortunae (Fano) was an
Umbrian coast-town, near the mouth of the Metaurus (Me-
ta,uro). The exact site of Hasdrubal's defeat is unknown,
but it was probably not many miles from the mouth of the
river.

2 A hot dry wind; see commentators on Horace, Sat. 1.
5.78.

' A lake in the Sabine country, near the Nar (Nera), now
called Pie di Lugo or Lago delle Marmore. Virgil mentions
the fontes Velini {Aen. VII. 517).

* This name is borrowed from Virgil {Aen. VII. 715).
Servius says it is the same as the Farfarus (modern Farfa),
a Sabine stream which flows into the Tiber.

3S8

BOOK I. V. TO HERONIUS

through the insurrection of Julius, the latter dyed
%\ith Hasdrubal's life-blood ; ^ for here is the
Metaurus, the glory of which river was won in
a single day but has endured through the ages,
as though even now it swept bloody corpses
down its empurpled waters into Dalmatia's seas.
8. As for the other towns on the Flaminian road, I
just entered and then left them, passing on with
Picenum on my left and Umbria on my right; but
there either the wind Atabulus ^ from Calabria or the
malarial district of Etruria intoxicated my lungs
with poisonous blasts of air that brought on sweats
and chills alternately, and infected my whole body
with its atmosphere. Meanwhile fever and thirst
made havoc of the innermost recesses of my heart and
marrow ; to their greedy claims I kept promising not
only the deliciousness of springs and the deep-hidden
waters of wells (though I reckoned on these also),
but all the streams that lay on my route or near it,
those of Velinus ^ glassy, of Clitumnus cool, of the
Anio blue, of Nar smacking of sulphur, of the Fabaris *
clear, of the Tiber muddy ; but caution ever balked my
longing. 9. Amid this distress Rome burst upon
my sight. I thought I could drink dry not only its
aqueducts but the ponds used in its mock sea-fights.
But before allowing myself to set foot even on
the outer boundary of the city I sank on my
knees at the triumphal thresholds of the Apostles,^

» The churches of St. Peter and St. Paul. St. Peter's,
founded by Constantine and consecrated in a.d. 326, was still
outside the city precincts. The basilica of St. Paul (S. Paolo
fuori le Mura) was founded in a.d. 386. Triumphalibv^ was
perhaps suggested by Porta Triumphalis, the gateway by which
a general's triumphal procession entered Rome.

359

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

sensi membris male fortibus explosum esse langu-
orem ; post quae caelestis experimenta patrocinii
conduct! devorsorii parte susceptus atque etiam
nunc istaec inter iacendum scriptitans quieti pauxillu-
lum operam impendo. 10. neque adhuc principis
aulicorumque tumultuosis foribus obversor. inter-
veni etenim nuptiis patricii Ricimeris, cui filia
perennis Augusti in spem publicae securitatis copu-
labatur. igitur nunc in ista non modo personarum
sed etiam ordinum partiumque laetitia Transalpino
tuo latere conducibilius visum, quippe cum hoc ipso
tempore, quo haec mihi exarabantur, vix per omnia
theatra macella, praetoria fora, templa gymnasia
Thalassio Fescenninus explicaretur, atque etiam
nunc e contrario studia sileant negotia quiescant
iudicia conticescant, differantur legationes vacet
ambitus et inter scurrilitates histrionicas totus
actionum seriarum status peregrinetur. 11. iam
quidem virgo tradita est, iam coronam sponsus, iam
palmatam consularis, iam cycladem pronuba, iam
togam [senator] ^ honoratus, iam paenulam deponit
inglorius, et nondum tamen cuncta thalamorum
pompa defremuit, quia necdum ad mariti domum
nova nupta migravit. qua festivitate decursa cetera
tibi laborum meorum molimina reserabuntur, si

^ senator seclusit lAietjohann.

1 See Carm. 2. 484 n.

* Thalassio (or Talassio) was properly the cry with which
the bride was greeted by her attendants on entering her new
home, but it became a general expression of good wishes to
the happy couple. Its origin is uncertain. Livy gives a
quaint story to account for it (I. 9. 11 sq.).

360

BOOK I. V. TO HERON lUS

and straightway I felt that all the sickness had
been driven from my enfeebled limbs; after which
proof of heavenly protection I found quarters in
a hired lodging, and even now I pen these words
at intervals in my repose, for I am making rest
my business for a little while. 10. Up till now
I have not presented myself at the bustling doors
of the Emperor and his courtiers, for I arrived
here at the moment of the marriage of Ricimer the
patrician, whose union with the daughter of the
immortal Augustus is a hopeful guarantee of the
safety of the state. ^ So for the present, amid
this general rejoicing not merely of individuals
but of classes and parties, the best course for
your friend from over the Alps seemed to be to
lie low, for at the very moment that I am writing
this the shouts of " Thalassio " ^ according to Fescen-
nine custom have hardly ceased to echo in every
theatre, market-place, camp, law-court, church and
playground ; on the other hand, the schools ^ are still
silent, business is hushed, lawsuits are stilled, dele-
gations from the provinces are adjourned, place-
seeking takes a holiday, and while buffoons are
making their merry jests all serious business seems
to be away on its travels. 11. And now the bride
has been given away, the bridegroom has put off
his garland, the consular his embroidered robe, the
brideswoman her gay mantle, the man of rank his
toga, and the undistinguished citizen his cloak ;
nevertheless, the full pomp of the bridal ceremony
has not yet subsided, for the bride has not yet passed
to her husband's home. When all this gaiety has
run its course I will disclose to you the other struggles

' Or possibly "factions," "political antagonisms."

361

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

tamen vel consummata sollemnitas aliquando ter-
minaverit istara totius civitatis occupatissimam
vacationem. vale.

VI

SIDONIVS EVTROPIO SVO
SALVTEM

1. Olim quidem scribere tibi concupiscebam, sed
nunc vel maxime impellor, id est cum mihi ducens in
urbem Christo propitiante via carpitur. scribendi
causa vel sola vel maxima, quo te scilicet a profundo
domesticae quietis extractum ad capessenda militiae
Palatinae munia vocem. ... 2. his additur quod
niunere dei tibi congruit aevi corporis animi vigor
integer; dein quod equis, armis, veste sumptu
famulicio instructus solum, nisi fallimur, incipere
formidas et, cum sis alacer domi, in aggredienda pere-
grinatione trepidum te iners desperatio facit; si
tamen senatorii seminis homo, qui cotidie trabeatis
proavorum imaginibus ingeritur, iuste dicere potest
semet peregrinatum, si semel et in iuventa viderit
domicilium legum, gymnasium litterarum, curiam
dignitatum, verticem mundi, patriam libertatis, in

♦ This letter is usually assigned to a.d. 455, when Sidonius
was on his way to Rome in the train of Avitus, but it may
have been written four or five years later, as Sidonius was
again in Rome in the year 459 or (more probably) 460; see
I. 11. 3 n. It seems to have had an immediate effect:
see III. 6. There is no need to assume that either Eutropius or
Sidonius held a public appointment under Avitus ; their " old
partnership in the civil service," referred to in III. 6. 1, may
well have been in the reign of Majorian. Eutropius rose to
be Praetorian Prefect of Gaul under Anthemius.

^ i.e. from Gaul to Rome.
362

BOOK I. VI. TO EUTROPIUS

of my toilsome adventure, at least if sooner or later
the completion of the celebration shall end this most
busy holiday of a whole city. Farewell.

VI

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND EUTROPIUS,
GREETING ♦

1. I have long been wanting to wTite to you, but
now I am especially drawn to do so at the moment
when by the grace of Christ's atonement I am
treading the path which leads to the City. My one
reason — at any rate my chief one — is to draw you
out from the depths of your domestic calm and
to invite you to take up the duties of the Palatine
imperial service. ... 2. Besides all this, you are
by the favour of heaven in the prime of life, and
possess strength of body and mind to correspond ; then
you are well furnished with horses, armour, raiment,
money and servants, and (unless I am wrong) you
only dread beginning, and though you have an
energetic spirit at home, an unenterprising nervous-
ness makes you alarmed about attempting foreign
travel ^ — if indeed a man of senatorial descent, who
every day rubs shoulders with the figures of his
ancestors arrayed in robes of state, ^ can fairly say
that he has travelled to foreign parts, when once he
has seen — and seen with the eyes of youth — the
home of laws, the training-school of letters, the
assembly-hall of high dignitaries, the head of the
universe, the mother-city of liberty, the one

' Sabinus, consul in a.d. 316, was an ancestor of Eutropiua :
see III. 0. 3, and, for the meaning of Irabea, n. on Carm. XV.
150.

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

qua unica totius orbis civitate soli barbari et servi
peregrinantur. 3. et nunc, pro pudor, si relinquare
inter busequas rusticanos subulcosque ronchantes !
quippe si et campum stiva tremente proscindas aut
prati floreas opes panda curvus falce populeris aut
vineam palmite gravem cernuus rastris fossor in-
vertas, tunc tibi est summa votorum beatitudo.
quin potius expergiscere et ad maiora se pingui
otio marcidus et enervis animus attollat. non
minus est tuorum natalium viro personam suam ex-
colere quam villam. 4. ad extremum, quod tu tibi
iuventutis exercitium appellas, hoc est otium
veteranorum, in quorum manibus effetis enses
robiginosi sero ligone mutantur. esto, multiplicatis
tibi spumabunt musta vinetis, innumeros quoque
cumulos frugibus rupta congestis horrea dabunt,
densum pecus gravidis uberibus in mulctram per
antra olida caularum pinguis tibi pastor includet:
quo spectat tam faeculento patrimonium promovisse
compendio et non solum inter ista sed, quod est
turpius, propter ista latuisse ? non nequiter te
concilii tempore post sedentes censentesque iuvenes
inglorium rusticum, senem stantem latitabundum
pauperis honorati sententia premat, cum eos quos

^ i.e. all who are not slaves or " barbarians" are citizens
of Rome, so when in Rome they cannot be foreigners.

364

BOOK I. VI. TO EUTROPIUS

community in the whole world in which only slaves
and barbarians are foreigners.^ 3. And now, for
shame if you are to be left behind amongst bumpkin
cowmen and snorting swineherds ! If you can hold
a shaky plough-handle and cut up the field, or if,
stooping over the curved sickle, you can prune the
flowery wealth of the meadow, or if as a down-bent
delver you can turn up with your hoe the vineyard
laden with heavy growth, that, forsooth, is the
supreme happiness to which you aspire ! Nay,
rouse yourself, and let your spirit, which is faint
and nerveless through obese idleness, rise to greater
things. A man of your birth must needs cultivate
his reputation just as diligently as his farm. 4. To
conclude, what you are pleased to call the drill of
youth is properly the repose of veterans, in whose
toil-worn hands rusted swords are exchanged for
the mattock of old age. Granted that your vats
will foam with the produce of your extended vine-
yards, that your barns will show corn heaped in
countless piles until they burst, that your well-fed
shepherd will drive a crowded flock with full udders
to the milking-pail through the odorous entrances
of your sheep-folds : but of what use is it to have
increased your inheritance by so dirty an economy
and at the same time to have remained in obscurity
not only amid such surroundings, but (what is more
shameful) for the sake of them ^ Would it not be a
wicked thing if on the day of assembly you in your
old age were to stand behind your juniors while
they are seated and taking part in the debate, — you
an inglorious rustic shrinking from sight and bowing
before the authoritative pronouncement of some
poor man come to high place, having realised with

365

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

esset indignum si vestigia nostra sequerentur videris
dolens antecessisse ? 5. sed quid plura ? si pateris
hortantem, conatuum tuorum socius adiutor, praevius
particeps ero. sin autem inlecebrosis deliciarum
cassibus involutus mavis, ut aiunt, Epicuri dogmatibus
copulari, qui iactura virtutis admissa summum
bonum sola corporis voluptate determinat, testor
ecce maiores, testor posteros nostros huic me noxae
non esse confinem. vale.

VII

SIDONIVS VINCENTIO SVO
SALVTEM

1. Angit me casus Arvandi nee dissimulo quin
angat. namque hie quoque cumulus accedit laudi-
bus imperatoris, quod amari palam licet et capite
damnatos. amicus homini fui supra quam morum
eius facilitas varietasque patiebantur. testatur hoc
propter ipsum nuper mihi invidia conflata, cuius me
paulo incautiorem flamma detorruit. 2, sed quod
in amicitia steti, mihi debui. porro autem in natura
ille non habuit diligentiam perseverandi : libere
queror, non insultatorie, quia fidelium consilia
despiciens fortunae ludibrium per omnia fuit.

* Nothing is known of this Vincentius.
^ See Introd., p. xli.

366

BOOK I. VII. TO VINCENTIUS

remorse that men, in whose case it would have been
a scandal if they had even followed in our steps,
have passed you in the race? 5. Well, what need
to say more ? If you submit to these exhortations
I am ready to be your comrade and helper, the
guide and the partner of your efforts. If, how-
ever, you let yourself be entangled in the tempting
snares of luxur}' and prefer (as people say) to be
tied up with the dogmas of Epicurus, who makes
jettison of virtue and defines the supreme good in
terms of bodily pleasure alone, then here and now I
call our ancestors and our posterity to witness that I
have nothing to do with such wickedness. Farewell.

VII

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND VINCENTIUS,
GREETING *

1. I am distressed by the fall of Arvandus ^ and
do not conceal my distress; for it is the crowning
glory of our Emperor that affection may be openly
shown even for men condemned to death. I have
shown myself this man's friend even more than his
easy-going and unstable character justified, as is
proved by the disfavour which has lately flared up
against me on his account; for I have been rather
too heedless and have scorched myself in its flame.
2. But such steadfastness in friendship was a duty
which I owed to myself. On the other hand, he
never had in his disposition any firmness of principle ;
and I complain of him frankly (but not spitefully)
for scorning the advice of his loyal friends and
so becoming the sport of fortune all through.

367

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

denique non eum aliquando cecidisse sed tam diu
stetisse plus miror. o quotiens saepe ipse se adversa
perpessum gloriabatur, cum tamen nos ab adfectu
profundiore ruituram eius quandoque temeritatem
miseraremur, definientes non esse felicem qui hoc
frequenter potius esse quam semper iudicaretur!
3. sed damnationis ^ suae ordinem exposcis. salva
fidei reverentia, quae amico debetur etiam adflicto,
rem breviter exponam. praefecturam primam gu-
bernavit cum magna popularitate consequentemque
cum maxima populatione. pariter onere depressus
aeris alieni metu creditorum successuros sibi opti-
mates aemulabatur. omnium colloquia ridere, con-
silia mirari, officia contemnere, pati de occurrentum
raritate suspicionem, de adsiduitate fastidium, donee,
odii publici mole vallatus et prius cinctus custodia
quam potestate discinctus, captus destinatusque
pervenit Romam, ilico tumens, quod prospero cursu
procellosum Tuseiae litus enavigasset, tamquam sibi
bene conscio ipsa quodammodo elementa famu-
larentur. 4. in Capitolio custodiebatur ab hospite
Flavio Asello, comite sacrarum largitionum, qui
adhuc in eo semifumantem praefecturae nuper
extortae dignitatem venerabatur. interea legati
provinciae Galliae, Tonantius Ferreolus praefectorius,
Afranii Syagrii consulis e filia nepos, Thaumastus

^ dampnationis T : gubernationis.

1 Minister of Finance. See Bury I. 51.
* n. on Carm. 24. 34.
» n. on Carm. 24. 36.

368

BOOK I. VII. TO VINCENTIUS

In brief, I am not so much surprised that he has
fallen at last as that he has held his own so long.
How often he used to boast of himself as one who
had often endured ill fortune, whilst we from a
deeper feeling for him lamented that his reckless-
ness must some day end in disaster, holding that a
man is not fortunate if he is judged to be so only
frequently, not always! 3. You ask me to tell the
story of his condemnation. I will give you the facts
shortly whilst paying all respect to the loyalty which
is due even to a fallen friend. He conducted his
first term as prefect with great approbation, his
second with the greatest depredation. Moreover,
he was oppressed by the burden of debt and, dread-
ing his creditors, felt jealous of those nobles who were
Ukely successors to liim. He mocked every one of them
when they conversed \\ith him, professed astonish-
ment at their suggestions, and ignored their services ;
if only few sought to accost him he nursed suspicion,
if many, contempt ; till in the end he was encircled
by a wall of general antipathy, and was burdened
by guards before he was disburdened of his office.
He was arrested and brought in bonds to Rome,
priding himself then and there on having sailed
safely past the stormy coast of Tuscany, as though
the elements were in some way submissive to him,
recognising the clearness of his conscience. 4. He
was kept under guard on the Capitol by his friend
Flavius Asellus, Count of the Sacred Largesses,^
who respected the lingering aroma of the pre-
fectorian dignity w^hich had just been wrested from
him. Meanwhile the deputies of the province of
Gaul, Tonantius Ferreolus,^ of prefectorian rank,
grandson of the Consul Afranius Syagrius ^ through

369

THE LETIT^RS OF SIDONIUS

quoque et Petronius, maxima rerum verborumque
scientia praediti et inter principalia patriae nostrae
decora ponendi, praevium Arvandum publico nomine
accusaturi cum gestis decretalibus insequuntur.

5. qui inter cetera quae sibi provinciales agenda
mandaverant interceptas litteras deferebant, quas
Arvandi scriba correptus dominum dictasse profite-
batur. haec ad regem Gothorum charta videbatur
emitti, pacem cum Graeco imperatore dissuadens,
Britannos supra Ligerim sitos impugnari oportere
demonstrans, cum Burgundionibus iure gentium
Gallias dividi debere confirmans, et in hunc ferme
modum plurima insana, quae iram regi feroci, placido
verecundiam inferrent. banc epistulam laesae maies-
tatis crimine ardere iurisconsulti interpretabantur.

6. me et Auxanium, praestantissimum virum,
tractatus iste non latuit, qui Arvandi amicitias
quoquo genere incursas inter ipsius adversa vitare
perfidum barbarum ignavum computabamus. de-
ferimus igitur nil tale metuenti totam per^niciter i>
machinam, quam summo artificio acres et flammei
viri occulere in tempus iudicii meditabantur, scilicet

^ pemiciter machinam Lueijohann vix probabUiter: per(i)-
machiam codd, fere omnes.

1 n. on Carm. 24. 85.

2 An eminent lawyer, vir inlustris. It was at his instance
that Sidonius added Bk. VIII. to his collection of letters.

2 Anthemius.

* i.e. the Bretons of Aremorica : see Introd., p. xii, n. 1 .
Euric soon acted in accordance with this advice of Arvandus
{ib., p. xxviii).

* i.e. make him ashamed of his inactivity, shame him out of
his peacefulness.

370

BOOK I. VII. TO VINCENTIUS

Iiis daughter, and Thaumastus ^ and Petronius,^ men
possessed of ripe experience and consummate
oratorical skill and entitled to rank amongst the
chief glories of our native land, followed in his wake,
carrying the official resolutions, having been ap-
pointed to accuse him on behalf of the province.
5. Amongst other pleas which the provincials had
instructed them to urge, they were bringing against
him an intercepted letter which Arvandus's secretary
(who had been arrested) admitted to have been
written at his master's dictation. It appeared to
be a message addressed to the king of the Goths,
dissuading him from peace with the " Greek
Emperor," ^ insisting that the Britanni settled to
the north of the Liger* should be attacked, and
declaring that the Gallic provinces ought according
to the law of nations to be divided up with the
Burgundians, and a great deal more mad stuff in
the same vein, fitted to rouse a warlike king
to fury and a peaceful one to shame.^ The opinion
of the lawyers was that this letter was red-hot
treason. 6. These proceedings did not escape my
excellent friend Auxanius ^ and myself, and we
thought it would be disloyal, inhuman and cowardly
to diso^vn our friendly relations with Arvandus in
his time of danger, no matter how we had been
drawn into them. So we promptly reported to
the unfortunate man, who had no fear of anything
of the sort, the whole machination, which his eager
and fiery enemies were most cunningly planning
to keep secret till the day of the trial ; for they knew,

• This Auxanius afterwards adopted the monastic life, if,
as is probable, he is the Auxanius mentioned in VII. 17. 4.
His father had been Praetorian Prefect of Gaul (§ 7 below).

371

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

ut adversarium incautum et consiliis sodalium
repudiatis soli sibi temere fidentem professione
responsi praecipitis involverent. dicimus ergo quid
nobis, quid amicis secretioribus tutum putaretur;
suademus nil quasi leve fatendum. si quid ab inimicis
etiam pro levissimo flagitaretur: ipsam illam dis-
simulationem tribulosissimam fore, quo facilius
exitiosam suscitarent illi persuasionem securitatis.^

7. quibus agnitis proripit sese atque in convieia
subita prorumpens : " abite degeneres," inquit, " et
praefectoriis patribus indigni, cum hac superforanea
trepidatione ; mihi, quia nihil intellegitis, banc ne-
gotii partem sinite curandam; satis Arvando
conscientia sua sufficit ; vix illud dignabor admittere,
ut advocati mihi in actionibus repetundarum patro-
cinentur." discedimus tristes et non magis iniuria
quam maerore confusi ; quis enim niedicorum iure
moveatur quotiens desperatum furor arripiat?

8. inter haec reus noster aream Capitolinam per-
currere albatus ; modo subdolis salutationibus pasci,
modo crepantes adulationum bullas ut recognoscens
libenter audire, modo serica et gemmas et pretiosa
quaeque trapezitarum involucra rimari et quasi
mercaturus inspicere prensare, depretiari ^ devolvere,

^ exit. 8. i. p. 8, ego desperanter ; codices varie et gramter
corrupti sunt.

2 depretiari deponens a-n. Aey. : forlasse depretiare scriben-
dum; cf. II. 10. 6, Cann. 22. 203.

^ A broad esplanade on the top of the Capitoline Hill.
About half-way along it was the historic temple of Jupiter.
now a sad ruin owing to the recent Vandal depredations (a.d.
455).
372

BOOK I. VII. TO VINCENTIUS

of course, that their opponent was incautious, that
lie iiad rejected the advice of his friends and was
rashly trusting in his own powers, and so they hoped
to entangle him in an avowal through some hasty
reply. We told him, therefore, what we and his
less open friends thought to be the safe course : we
suggested to him that he should make no admission
on the assumption that it was a trivial matter, even
if his opponents in pressing him for it implied that it
was the most trivial matter in the world : we warned
him that that very pretence was going to be the most
serious danger to him, its aim being to produce more
easily in him a fatal sense of security. 7. When he
realised our drift he started foi*w ard and in a moment
burst into violent taunts: "Off with you, degen-
erate cravens," he said, " unworthy of your prefect-
fathers — off with you and your uncalled-for panic!
Let me look after this side of the business, since you
have no comprehension of it ; for Arvandus his con-
sciousness of innocence is enough ; only with difficulty
shall I bring myself even to allow advocates to defend
me on the charge of extortion." We went away
disheartened and upset, by grief more than by
resentment; for what physician would have a right
to become excited when a patient beyond hope of
recovery is seized by a fit of madness ? 8. Mean-
while our accused friend briskly parades the Capito-
line Terrace ^ in festal dress ; now he gloats over
various knavish salutations given him, now he listens
with pleasure to the bursting bubbles of flattery,
seeming to recognise them as his due ; again, he
pries into silk wares, jewels and all the costly cases
of the goldsmiths, and (as if he meant to make
a purchase) scans them closely, snatches them

373

VOL. I. P

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

et inter agendum multum de legibus, de temporibus,
de senatu, de principe queri, quod se non prius
quam discuterent ulciscerentur. 9. pauci medii
dies, et in tractatorio frequens senatus (sic post com-
peri; nam inter ista discesseram). procedit noster
ad curiam paulo ante detonsus pumicatusque, cum
accusatores semipuUati atque concreti nuntios a
decemviris opperirentur et ab industria squalidi
praeripuissent reo debitam miserationem sub invidia
sordidatorum. citati intromittuntur : partes, ut
moris est, e regione consistunt. ofFertur prae-
fectoriis ante propositionis exordium ius sedendi:
Arvandus iam tunc infelici impudentia concito gradu
mediis prope iudicum sinibus ingeritur; Ferreolus
circumsistentibus latera collegis verecunde ac leviter
in imo subselliorum capite consedit, ita ut non
minus legatum se quam senatorem reminisceretur,
plus ob hoc postea laudatus honoratusque. 10. dum
haec, et qui procerum defuerant adfuerunt: con-
surgunt partes legatique proponunt. epistula post
provinciale mandatum, cuius supra mentio facta,
profertur ; atque, cum sensim recitaretur, Arvandus
necdum interrogatus se dictasse proclamat. re-

^ Criminal charges against senators were at this time
regularly judged by live senators chosen by lot, sitting under
the presidency of the Prefect of the City. This limitation of
number was apparently not enforced in cases of high
treason.

374

BOOK I. VII. TO VINCENTIUS

up, disparages them and flings them back, and
in the midst of this business makes frequent
criticisms of the laws, the times, the Senate, and the
Emperor for not vindicating him before investigating
his case. 9. A few days elapsed, and then a full
senate met in the Council Chamber (so I learned
afterwards, for I had left Rome in the interval).
Our man makes his way to the Senate-house, having
shortly before been shaved and rubbed down, while
his accusers, in half-mourning and unkempt, await
a summons from the ten judges,^ having by their
intentional squalor robbed the accused of his due
sympathy, availing themselves of the indignation
which the sight of men in the garb of sorrow
arouses. They are summoned and admitted; the
two sides take their positions as usual, one opposite
the other. Those of prefectorian rank are offered,
before the indictment is begun, the privilege of being
seated. Arvandus, even thus early, with unhappy
self-assertion makes a rush and seizes a place almost
in the laps of his j udges ; on the other hand, Ferreolus
takes his seat modestly and quietly at the lowest end
of the benches with his colleagues standing on
either side, thus showing that he remembered that
he was a delegate as well as a senator; for which
action he was afterwards all the more complimented
and honoured. 10. Meanwhile those of the magnates
who had not attended at the beginning arrived ; the
opponents rose in their places and the delegates set
out their case. After the commission from the
province the letter which we have mentioned above
was produced. It was being slowly read when
Arvandus, without waiting to be questioned, cried
out that he had dictated it. The delegates replied

375

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

spondere legati, quamquam valde nequiter, constaret
quod ipse dictasset. at ubi se furens ille quantumque
caderet ignarus bis terque repetita confessione
transfodit, acclamatur ab accusatoribus, conclamatur
a iudicibus reum laesae maiestatis confitentem teneri.
ad hoc et milibus formularum iuris id sancientum
iugulabatur. 11. turn demum laboriosus tarda
paenitudine loquacitatis impalluisse perhibetur, sero
cognoscens posse reum maiestatis pronuntiari etiam
eum qui non adfectasset habitum purpuratorum.
confestim privilegiis geminae praefecturae, quam per
quinquennium repetitis fascibus rexerat, exaugura-
tus et, plebeiae famiiliae non ut additus sed ut red-
ditus, publico carceri adiudicatus est. illud sane
aerumnosissimum, sicuti narravere qui viderant,
quod, quia se sub atratis accusatoribus exornatum
ille politumque iudicibus intulerat, paulo post, cum
duceretur addictus, miser nee miserabilis erat. quis
enim super statu eius nimis inflecteretur, quem
videret accuratum delibutumque lautumiis aut

1 Arvandus, with his wide legal experience, cannot have
been as ignorant as Sidonius supposes. The reason of his
astounding confidence may have been that Ricimer had
secretly supported his treasonable designs and Arvandus
counted on his potent help. See Stevens, pp. 106 fif. (though
he, like Hodgkin, II. 464, inadvertently takes adfect. hab.
purp. to mean " had assumed the purple ").

2 It was common, perhaps usual, for a person condemned
on his own confession to be committed to prison while awaiting
sentence. Sidonius seems to imply that if Arvandus had not
been a parvenu he would have been put under a milder form
of custody, being committed to the charge of one or two
persons pledged to produce him at the right time.

BOOK I. VII. TO VINCENTIUS

(very mischievously, indeed) that it should be taken
as an agreed point that he had dictated it. But
when the madman, not realising his blunder, re
peated his avowal two or three times and so dealt
himself his death-blow, the accusers raised a shout
in which the judges joined, declaring that the
accused was guilty of high treason on his owti con-
fession. Besides this, thousands of legal precedents
sanctioning the extreme penalty were aimed at his
throat. 11. Then, and not till then, it is reported,
did he show distress. His face grew pale as he
tardily regretted his talkativeness, realising all too
late that a man could be declared guilty of high
treason even although he had not aspired to the
purple.^ He was instantly deprived by solemn
procedure of the privileges appertaining to the
double prefectship, which he had held by reappoint-
ment for five years, and he was consigned to the
state prison as one not degraded but rather restored
to a plebeian family. ^ The bitterest affliction of all
(as those who watched the scene have related) was
that, because he had marched into the presence of
his judges elegantly dressed and groomed whilst his
accusers were in dark clothing, the pitiable plight in
which he appeared only a little later evoked no pity,
as he was dragged off to prison after his commitment.
For who would distress himself greatly about the
position of one whom he saw being carried off to
the quarries or the convict-prison ^ punctiliously

' Ergastula were slave-prisons, where slaves chosen for hard,
rough labour (often as a punishment) were quartered, being
chained at night and sometimes even working in chains.
Under the Empire there were public ergastula, to which con-
victs as well as slaves were sent.

377

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

ergastulo inferri ? 12. sed et iudicio vix per hebdo-
madam duplicem comperendinato capite multatus in
insulam coniectus est serpentis Epidauri, ubi usque
ad inimicorum dolor em devenustatus et a rebus
humanis veluti vomitu fortunae nauseantis exsputus
nunc ex vetere senatus consulto Tiberiano triginta
dierum vitam post sententiam trahit, uncum et
Gemonias et laqueum per horas turbulenti camificis
horrescens. 13. nos quidem, prout valemus, absentes
praesentesque vota facimus, preces supplicationes-
que geminamus, ut suspense ictu iam iamque
mucronis exserti pietas Augusta seminecem quam-
quam publicatis bonis vel exsilio muneretur. illo
tamen, seu exspectat extrema quaeque seu sustinet,
infelicius nihil est, si post tot notas inustas contume-
liasque aliquid nunc amplius quam vivere timet,
vale.

^ Sed et is not very clear. The meaning seems to be:
" but he was actually {et) sentenced to death (not merely to
the quarries or the convict-prison)."

* The Insula Tiberina, on which stood a temple of Aescu-
lapius.

3 Under Tiberius the period was ten days. A law of
Theodosius, which allowed a reprieve of thirty days in the case
of an Imperial sentence, presumably caused a similar extension
in the case of the senatorial courts.

378

BOOK I. VII. TO vincp:ntius

dressed and perfumed? 12. But he, indeed,^
after an adjournment of the sentence for a
bare fortnight, was sentenced to death and flung
into prison in the island of the Serpent of Epi-
daurus,^ where he has been stripped of his
elegance to a point at which even his opponents are
distressed ; and having been spewed out of society
as though fortune threw him up in a fit of sickness,
he is now dragging out the period of thirty days
after his sentence as fixed by an ancient senatus
consultum of the Emperor Tiberius,^ living in hourly
terror of the hook, the Stairs,* and the noose of a
savage^ executioner. 13. As for us, whether at Rome
or away from it, we offer vows and reiterate prayers
and supplications to the extent of our powers,
entreating that the Imperial generosity may, even
at the cost of the confiscation of his property or
exile, show favour to this half-dead man by holding
back the stroke of the sword which threatens every
moment to be loosed upon him. But as for him,
whether he is now waiting for the worst or already
enduring it, he is certainly the most hapless of beings
if with the brand of all those ignominies and humilia-
tions upon him there is anything he now dreads
more than life. Farewell.

* The Scalae Gemoniae were on the Capitoline slope, near
the old prison, but their exact position is uncertain. To
these stairs the executioner dragged by a hook the bodies of
criminals, which were exposed there for some days and then
dragged to the Tiber.

• Sidonius uses turbiUentiis in the sense of truculentus.

379

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

VIII

SIDONIVS CANDIDIANO SVO
SALVTEM

1 . Morari me Romae congratularis ; id tamen
quasi facete et fatigationum salibus admixtis : ais
enim gaudere te quod aliquando necessarius tuus
videam solem, quern utique perraro bibitor Araricus
inspexerim. nebulas enim mihi meorum Lugdu-
nensium exprobras et diem quereris nobis matutina
caligine obstructum vix meridiano fervore reserari.
2. et tu istaec mihi Caesenatis furni potius quam
oppidi verna deblateras? de cuius natalis tibi soli
vel iucunditate vel commodo quid etiam ipse sentires.
dum migras iudicavisti ;^ ita tamen quod te Ravennae
felicius exsulantem auribus Padano culice perfossis
municipalium ranarum loquax turba circumsilit.
in qua palude indesinenter rerum omnium lege
perversa muri cadunt aquae stant, turres fluunt
naves sedent, aegri deambulant medici iacent,
algent balnea domicilia conflagrant, sitiunt vivi
natant sepulti, vigilant fares dormiunt potestates,

^ indicasti F.

* Gandidianus is not mentioned elsewhere.
^ Modem Cesena, on the Via Aemilia, about 20 miles N.W.
of Ariminum.

380

BOOK I. VIII. TO CANDIDIANUS

VIII

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND CANDIDIANUS,
GREETING *

1. You congratulate me on being still in Rome,
but you do so in a witty sort of way and
with a spice of banter, for you say you are de-
lighted that I, a friend of yours, have at last got a
view of the sun, which, as one who drank of the
Arar, I have seen (you say) at all events very seldom.
You bring up against me the fogs of my country-
men of Lugdunum and complain that with us the
daylight is shut out by morning mist and scarcely
revealed later by midday heat. 2. And do you talk
this balderdash to me, you a native of Caesena,^
which is an oven rather than a town? You have
shown your own opinion of the attractiveness and
amenities of that natal soil of yours by quitting it,
though in your happier existence as an exile at
Ravenna your ears are pierced by the mosquitoes
of the Padus, and a chattering company of your
fellow-burghers the frogs ^ keeps jumping about on
every side of you. In that marshland the laws of
nature are continually turned upside down; the
walls fall and the waters stand, towers float and
ships are grounded, the sick promenade and the
physicians lie abed, the baths freeze and the houses
bum, the living go thirsty and the buried swim,
thieves keep vigil and authorities sleep, clerics prac-

* The frogs of Ravenna are mentioned by Martial, III. 93. 8.
For a few of the features about to be mentioned cf. I. 6. 6.
It is impossible to see the point of all the remarks in thi.s
section; no doubt they are much exaggerated.

381

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

faenerantur clerici Syri psallunt, negotiatores mili-
tant milites^ negotiantur, student pilae senes aleae
iuvenes, armis eunuchi litteris foederati. 3. tu vide
qualis sit civitas ubi tibi lar familiaris incolitur, quae
facilius territorium potuit habere quam terram.
quocirca memento innoxiis Transalpinis esse par-
cendum, quibus caeli sui dote contentis non grandis
gloria datur si deteriorum coUatione clarescant.
vale.

IX

SIDONIVS HER0NI0 2 SVO
SALVTEM

1. Post nuptias patricii Ricimeris, id est post
imperii utriusque opes eventilatas, tandem reditum

1 monachi LNTV.

2 herenio LNTR.

^ Canon law strictly forbade the clergy to practise usury.

2 Syrians took a prominent part in trading and in financial
operations all over the Empire. It may be that at this time,
at least in Gaul, the word Syrus was used in the special sense
of " banker " or " money-lender " : see Friedlaender, Sitten-
geschichte,^^ I. 378, who compares the mediaeval use of " Lom-
bard." With reference to the present passage Hodgkin (I,
861, n. 1) ingeniously suggests that there may be an allusion
to a tradition that " all the bishops of Ravenna for the first
four centuries were of Syrian extraction." This seems very
doubtful.

' In the later Empire the trading classes were excluded by
law from the army and from the civil service, and, on the other
382

BOOK I. IX. TO HERONIUS

tise usury ^ and Syrians ^ sing psalms, business
men go soldiering and soldiers do business,^ the
old go in for ball-playing and the young for dicing,
the eunuchs for arms and the federates * for culture.
3. I bid you look at the nature of the city where
you have established your hearth and home, a city
which found it easier to secure territory than to
secure terra jirma. So mind that you spare the
harmless dwellers beyond the Alps, for they are
quite content with the climate with which they
have been endowed, and it is no great glory for
them if they should shine by comparison with those
that are worse. Farewell.

IX

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND HERONIUS,
GREETING *

1. Since the wedding of the patrician Ricimer, that
is to say after the wealth of two empires has been

hand, soldiers might not go into trade — though some laxity
seems to have been allowed in their case. The juxtaposition
of milites seems to show that militare is here used of serv^ice
in the army, not, as was usual in this period, of a post in the
civil service. For milites some MSS. read monachi (" monks "),
which deprives the sentence of all point. Probably milites
was accidentally omitted in the archetype because of its
similarity to mililani (this is a common form of scribal error);
then someone, noticing that a noun was wanted, stupidly
inserted monachi (perhaps suggested by clerici in the preceding
sentence).

* For the meaning of foederati see Introd., p. x, n. 2. The
reference here is presumably to the federate troops of the
garrison.

* A continuation of the account begun in No. 5. The date
of the letter is a.d. 468.

383

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

est in publicam serietatem, quae rebus actitandis
ianuam campumque patefecit. interea nos Pauli
praefectorii tarn doctrina quam sanctitate venerandis
laribus except! comiter blandae hospitalitatis officiis
excolebamur. porro non isto quisquam viro est
in omni artium genere praestantior. deus bone,
quae ille propositionibus aenigmata, sententiis
schemata, versibus commata, digitis mechanemata
facit ! illud tamen in eodem studiorum omnium
culmen antevenit, quod habet huic eminenti scientiae
conscientiam superiorem. igitur per hunc primum,
si quis quoquo modo in aulam gratiae aditus, exploro ;
cum hoc confero, quinam potissimum procerum
spebus valeret nostris opitulari. 2. nee sane multa
cunctatio, quia pauci de quorum eligendo patrocinio
dubitaretur. erant quidem in senatu plerique
opibus culti genere sublimes, aetate graves consilio
utiles, dignitate elati dignatione communes, sed
servata pace reliquorum duo fastigatissimi consulares,
Gennadius Avienus et Caecina Basilius, prae ceteris
conspiciebantur. hi in amplissimo ordine seposita
praerogativa partis armatae facile post purpuratum
principera principes erant. sed inter hos quoque

^ Gennadius Avienus belonged to the family of the Connni
(§ 4). He was consul in a.d. 450. In 452 he accompanied
Pope Leo I. and Trygetius as ambassador to Attila.

2 riavius Caecina Decius Maximus Basilius was Praetorian
Prefect of Italy under Majorian (a.d. 458) and again under
Severus (463-5) ; he was consul in a.d. 463.

^ This refers not only to the personal predominance of
Ricimer but to the marked tendency under his regime to exalt
the military class {i.e. the holders, or former holders, of one
of the high military offices) over the class of civil functionaries;
for example, an ex-consul who belonged to the military class
took precedence over other ex-consuls in the senatorial order.
See Stein, p. 563.

BOOK I. IX. TO H]::R0NIUS

scattered to the winds, there has been a reversion to
seriousness in public affairs, and this has opened a door
and a field for the transaction of business. Mean-
while I had been welcomed in the home of Paulus,
a man of prefectorian rank, — a home venerable for
its learning as well as for its virtuousness, where I
was receiving the kindly attentions of a genial
hospitality. Besides, there is not a man anywhere
more excellent than he in every department of
culture. Kind heaven ! With what ingenious subtle-
ties he sets forth his theme ! What apt figures adorn
his thoughts, what nicely-measured phrases divide
his verses, what works of art he creates ^^'ith his
fingers ! And better still is the coping-stone of all his
studies, namely, that he has a conscience which sur-
passes his brilliant erudition. And so he was the first
friend through whom I sought to ascertain whether
there was any possible way of approach to gain the
favour of the court ; ^^ith him I debated the question
who in particular amongst the influential people
would be able to aid my expectations. 2. There
was really little hesitation about this, for there
were very few whose claims as possible protectors
were worth weighing. Certainly there were many in
the Senate who were blessed with wealth and exalted
in lineage, reverend in years and helpful in counsel,
elevated by their dignity and yet accessible through
their condescension ; but (with all due respect to the
rest) two consulars of the highest distinction, Gen-
nadius Avienus^ and Caecina Basilius,^ were conspicu-
ous above their fellows. In the most elevated rank,
if we leave out of account the privileged military class,^
they stood easily next to the Emperor in the purple.
But when we compare the two men we find even in

38s

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

quamquam stupendi tamen varii mores et genii
potius quam ingenii similitudo. fabor namque super
his aliqua succinctius. 3. Avienus ad consulatum
felicitate, Basilius virtute pervenerat. itaque digni-
tatum in Avieno iucunda velocitas, in Basilio sera
numerositas praedicabatur. utrumque quidem, si
fors laribus egrediebantur, artabat clientum praevia
pedisequa circumfusa populositas ; sed longe in
paribus dispares sodalium spes et spiritus erant.
Avienus, si quid poterat, in filiis generis fratribus
provehendis moliebatur ; cumque semper domesticis
candidatis distringeretur, erga expediendas forinse-
cus ambientum necessitates minus valenter efficax
erat. 4. et in hoc Corvinorum familiae Deciana
praeferebatur, quod qualia impetrabat cinctus
Avienus suis, talia conferebat Basilius discinctus
alienis. Avieni animus totis et cito, sed infructuosius,
Basilii paucis et sero, sed commodius aperiebatur.
neuter aditu difficili, neuter sumptuoso; sed si
utrumque coluisses, facilius ab Avieno familiari-
tatem, facilius a Basilio beneficium consequebare.
5. quibus diu utrimque libratis id tractatus mutuus
temperavit, ut reservata senioris consularis
reverentia, in domum cuius nee nimis rare venti-

^ genii . . . ingenii. See nn. on Carm. 2. 191 and 10. 20.
* Notes 1 and 2 on p. 384 will make this reference clear.

386

BOOK I. IX. TO HERONIUS

their case that their characters, though both extra-
ordinary, are nevertheless different, and there is more
Hkeness in their dignity than in their disposition.^ I
>vin make some brief remarks about them. 3. Avienus
had reached the consulship by good fortune, Basilius by
his personal merit ; so in the case of Avienus people
commonly remarked upon the happy rapidity of his
dignities and in the case of Basilius upon their tardy
multiplicity. When either of them happened to go
out of doors, he was encircled by a swarming mass of
clients who preceded him, followed him, or walked at
his side ; but though so far there was likeness, the
ambitions and tone of the two companies were very
unlike. Avienus, so far as his influence extended,
exerted himself in promoting his sons, sons-in-law,
and cousins; and as he was always busy with
candidates from his o^vn family, he was less
helpful in meeting the wants of place-seekers
outside his circle. 4. A further reason which made
the Decian clan preferable to that of the Cor-
vini ^ was that such favours as Avienus when in
office obtained for his relatives Basilius even
when out of office bestowed on outsiders. Avienus
revealed his mind to all, speedily but rather un-
profitably ; Basilius did so to few and tardily, but
more beneficially. It was not difficult or expensive
to get access to either of them ; but if you sought
the company of both you were more likely to get
good-fellowship from Avienus and good deeds from
Basilius. 5. When we had carefully weighed the
considerations in favour of each, the discussion
between us arrived at this compromise, that while
still paying due respect to the elder consular, at
whose house I was indeed a fairly frequent visitor,

387

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

tabamus, Basilianis potius frequentatoribus appli-
caremur. ilicet, dum per hunc amplissimum virum
aliquid de legationis Arvernae petitionibus elabora-
mus, ecce et Kalendae lanuariae, quae August!
consulis mox futuri repetendum fastis nomen
opperiebantur. 6. tunc patronus : " heia," inquit,
" SoUi meus, quamquam suscepti officii onere pres-
saris, exseras volo in obsequium novi consulis
veterem Musam votivum quippiam vel tumultuariis
fidibus carminantem. praebebo admittendo aditum
recitaturoque solacium recitantique suffragium. si
quid experto credis, multa tibi seria hoc ludo pro-
movebuntur. " parui ego praeceptis, favorem ille
non subtraxit iniunctis et impositae devotionis
adstipulator invictus egit cum consule meo, ut me
praefectum faceret senatui suo. 7. sed tu, ni fallor,
epistulae perosus prolixitatem voluptuosius nunc
opusculi ipsius relegendis versibus inmorabere. scio,
atque ob hoc carmen ipsum loquax in consequentibus
charta deportat, quae pro me interim, dum venio,
diebus tibi pauculis sermocinetur. cui si examinis
tui quoque puncta tribuantur, aeque gratum mihi

^ These words show that Sidonius was not the only
delegate, though he must have been the leader of the
mission. Letter V. makes it clear that he had not travelled
along with his colleagues.

2 i.e. as Praefectus Vrbi.

' The Panegyric on Anthemius, Carmen II.

388

BOOK I. IX. TO HERONIUS

I should attach myself more particularly to the train
of Basilius. Well, while by the aid of this most
distinguished man I was devising some move in the
matter of the petitions of the Arvernian deputa-
tion,^ lo and behold ! the Kalends of January also
loomed before us, the day on which the second
appearance of Augustus on the list of chief magis-
trates was due, for our Emperor was about to become
consul. 6. Then my patron said, " Come on, my dear
SoUius, though you are sorely busied with the burden
of the commission you have undertaken, I wish that
you would, in humble duty to the new consul, draw
out your old Muse from her retirement, and get her
to chant some expression of good wishes, even if
she has to strike up a hastily-improvised strain. 1
will give you the entry by passing you in, I will
give you assistance when you are called on to read
and support as you go on. Believe me as a man
of experience, many serious concerns of yours will
be greatly advanced by this sportive performance."
I complied with his instructions, and he did not
withdraw his support from the work he had charged
me with; he gave his personal and irresistible
backing to the tribute imposed upon me, and pressed
the consul whose praises I had sung to appoint me
as president of his Senate.^ 7. However, unless I
am mistaken, you are bored with the length of my
letter, and will find it more pleasurable ot this point
to pass your time in reading the verses of the actual
composition.^ I understand, and accordingly this
garrulous sheet carries you the poem itself added
at the tail-end, to hold conversation with you on
my behalf for a few days, until I arrive. And if it
should get good marks from your examination also,

THE LETFERS OF SIDONIUS

ac si me in comitio vel inter rostra contionante ad
sophos meum non modo lati clavi sed tribulium
quoque fragor concitaretur. sane moneo praeque de-
nuntio quisquilias ipsas^ Clius tuae hexametris minime
exaeques. merito enim oonlata vestris mea carmina
non heroicorum phaleris sed epitaphistarum neniis
comparabuntur. 8. attamen gaude quod hie ipse
panegyricus etsi non iudicium certe eventum boni
operis accepit. quapropter, si tamen tetrica sunt
amoenanda iocularibus, volo paginam glorioso, id est
quasi Thrasoniano fine concludere Plautini Pyrgo-
polinicis imitator. igitur cum ad praefecturam
sub ope Christi stili occasione pervenerim, iuberis
scilicet^ pro potestate cinctuti undique omnium
laudum convasatis acclamationibus ad astra portare,
si placeo, eloquentiam, si displiceo, felicitatem.
videre mihi videor ut rideas, quia perspicis nostram
cum milite comico ferocisse iactantiam. vale.

^ istas Luetjohann frustra ; vid. Mohrii praef. p. xiv.
* iuberis scilicet ego : iubeas ilicet NCT : iubeo te scilicet
Mohr.

390

BOOK I. IX. TO HERONIUS

that will be as acceptable to me as if I were holding
forth in the Comitium or on the public platform and
the clamour not only of the grandees but also of the
humble citizens were breaking out in a "Bravo!" for
me. I do indeed warn you and give you clear notice
that you are on no account to compare this rubbish of
mine with the hexameters of your epic Muse ; for my
strains, if compared with yours, will justly seem to
resemble the dirges of tombstone-poets rather than
the splendour of heroic bards. 8. Still, I want you to
rejoice that this same panegyric, if it has not won
critical approval, has at any rate had the practical
success of a fine composition. Therefore, if serious
subjects really ought to be brightened by jesting,
I should like to finish off this column with an ending
in a boastful tone, a Thraso-like ending,^ in fact,
and to become an imitator of the Pyrgopolinices of
Plautus. So since I have, with Christ's help, been
promoted to the Prefectship by the timely use of
my pen, you must know that you are commanded
by ministerial authority to heap together all the
plaudits of all the praises in the world, and to exalt
to the skies my eloquence if you are pleased with
my work, my good fortune if you are dissatisfied
with it. I can imagine myself seeing how you
laugh on realising that my arrogance has gone wild
in company with the soldier of the comedy. Fare-
well.

^ Thraso and Pyrgopolinices are two boastful soldiers of
Latin comedy, the former in the Eumichus of Terence, the
latter in the Miles CHoriosus of Plautus.

391

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

SIDONIVS CAMPANIANO SVO
SALVTEM

1. Accepi per praefectum annonae litteras tuas,
quibus eum tibi sodalem veterem mihi insinuas
iudici novo, gratias ago magnas illi, maximas tibi,
quod statuistis de amicitia mea vel praesumere tuta
vel inlaesa credere, ego vero notitiam viri familiari-
tatemque non solum volens sed et avidus amplector,
quippe qui noverim nostram quoque gratiam hoc
obsequio meo fore copulatiorem. 2. sed et tu
vigilantiae suae me, id est famae meae statum
causamque commenda. vereor autem ne famem
populi Romani theatralis caveae fragor insonet et
infortunio meo publica deputetur esuries. sane
hunc ipsum e vestigio ad portum mittere paro, quia
comperi naves quinque Brundisio profectas cum
speciebus tritici ac mellis ostia Tiberina tetigisse ;
quarum onera exspectationi plebis, si quid strenue
gerit, raptim faciet offerri, commendaturus se mihi,
me populo, utrumque tibi. vale.

* Nothing further is known of Campanianus. The date of
the letter is a.d. 468.

1 The Praefectus Annonae worked under the Prefect of the
City, who was ultimately responsible for the food-supply of
Rome.

" Probably in a double sense. Sidonius in his new office of

BOOK I. X. TO CAMPANIANUS

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND CAMPANIANUS,
GREETING *

1. I have received your letter by the Prefect of
the Food-Supply ; ^ in it you commend him as an
old comrade of yours to me as a new judge. ^ I
thank him heartily and you most heartily that you
have both decided either to count on my friend-
ship's being safe or at least to beHeve that nothing
has yet impaired it. For my part I accept the
acquaintance and intimacy of your excellent friend
not only with readiness but with enthusiasm, for I
feel sure that our own mutual liking will become
closer through this compliance on my part. 2. How-
ever, I should wish you also to recommend to his
vigilance my own self, that is to say, the upholding
and defence of my reputation. For I am afraid
that the uproar of the theatre-benches may sound
the cry of " starvation in Rome," and that the
general famine may be put down to my luckless
management. In fact I am proposing to send this
very man down to the harbour without a moment's
delay, for I have been informed that five ships
hailing from Brundisium have reached the mouth
of the Tiber with food-stuffs in the shape of wheat
and honey ; and if he is at all businesc-like he will
see that their cargoes are promptly placed at the
service of the expectant population. By so doing
he will commend himself to me, me to the people,
and both of us to yourself. Farewell.

Prefect of the City is a " new judge " ; he is also invited to be
a fresh judge of the character of the praefectus annonae.

393

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

XI

SIDONIVS MONTIO SVO SALVTEM

1. Petis tibi, vir disertissime, Sequanos tuos
expetituro satiram nescio quam, si sit a nobis per-
scripta, transmitti. quod quidem te postulasse
demiror; non enim sanctum est ut de moribus
amici cito perperam sentias. huic eram themati
scilicet incubaturus id iam agens otii idque habens
aevi, quod iuvenem militantemque dictasse prae-
sumptiosum fuisset, publicasse autem periculosum?
cui namque grammaticum vel salutanti Calaber ille
non dixit :

" si mala condiderit in quem quis carmina, ius est
iudiciumque " ?

2. sed ne quid ultra tu de sodali simile credas, quid
f uerit illud quod me sinistrae rumor ac fumus opinio-
nis adflavit longius paulo sed ab origine exponam.

* Montius is not otherwise known. The incident here
related is referred to in Carm. 12. 22; see note on that poem.
The beginning of the letter seems to show that it was written
very soon after the occurrence, the date of which is a.d. 461.

^ The point of perscripta will be made clear in § 8.

2 This sentence raises problems even when correctly
construed, but it has been grossly abused through inattention
to the Latin ; for example, one of the ablest of recent writers
on Sidonius infers from it that Sidonius still held a government
appointment ("was still militans ") when he wrote the letter.
Sidonius, who was little, if at all, over thirty at the time, play-
fully speaks as if his days of youth and official life were far
behind him. He had recently retired from a government
post in Rome (see § 3, recenti commilitio, and note on the
passage) and had gone back to Auvergne (§ 4). Now he
assumes the pose of a retired old fogey and talks airily of the

394

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

XI

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND MONTIUS,
GREETING *

1. You ask me, my most eloquent friend, now
that you mean to visit your countrymen the Sequani,
to send you some satire or other, if I have finished
it.^ Now I am much surprised that you have
made such a request ; for it is not decent of you so
quickly to believe the worst of a friend's character.
So you supposed, did you, that I was likely, after
reaching such an age and retiring from active life,
to spend pains upon a literary effort which in my
young days, when I was in the government service,
it would have been audacious for me to have com-
posed and dangerous for me to have published ?2
Who that has even a nodding acquaintance with
the schoolmaster has not been told by the poet of
Calabria ;

" If ribald verse besmirch an honest name.
The law shall see the offender put to shame " ? *

2. However, to prevent you from entertaining such
notions in future about your comrade, I will risk being
rather long and tell from the beginning the whole
story of the suspicion that was thrown on me by the
chatter and smoke of malicious gossip. Under the

days when he was a young man in the civil service. Even if
we take this to refer to some post under Avitus, about five years
before the incident related in this letter, it is a jesting
absurdity; but it may well refer to the recens ccnnmUitium of
§ 3. Thus the present passage throws no real light on the
official career of Sidonius.
3 Horace, Sat. II. 1. 82 sq.

395

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

temporibus Aiigusti Maioriani venit in medium
charta comitatum, sed carens indice, versuum plena
satiricorum mordacium, sane qui satis invectivaliter
abusi nominum nuditate carpebant plurimum vitia,.
plus homines, inter haec fremere Arelatenses, quo
loci res agebatur, et quaerere quem poetarum publici
furoris merito pondus urgeret, his maxime auctoribus
quos notis certis auctor incertus exacerbaverat.
3. accidit casu ut CatuUinus inlustris tunc ab Arvernis
illo veniret, cum semper mihi tum praecipue com-
militio recenti familiaris; saepe enim cives magis
amicos peregrinatio facit. igitur insidias nescienti
tam Paeonius quam Bigerrus has tetenderunt, ut
plurimis coram tamquam ab incauto sciscitarentur,
hoc novum carmen an recognosceret. et ille : " si
dixeritis." cumque frusta diversa quasi per iocum
efFunderent, solvitur CatulHnus in risum intempesti-
voque sufFragio clamare coepit dignum poema quod
perennandum apicibus auratis iuste tabula rostralis

1 Carm. 12 is addressed to him. In the superscription of
that poem CatulHnus is described as vir darissimus (V. C.)-
He must have become inlustris before this letter was
revised for publication, and Sidonius has punctiliously in-
serted his latest title, thus committing an unconscious
anachronism. For the meaning of inlustris and clarissimus
see note on § 6 below.

2 No unprejudiced reader of this sentence could fail to
conclude that Sidonius and CatuUinus had held posts in the
civil service at a very recent date, i.e. in 459 or (more probably)
460; but some scholars push the rectus commilitium back five

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

government of the Emperor Majorian there came into
circulation in the court a sheet with no label
attached, full of satirical and biting Hnes, actually
making the most savage use of undisguised names,
and attacking vices a great deal but men still
more. At this the people of Arelate, which was
the scene of the incident, began to rage and to
cast about among our poets in order to discover
which of them deserved to bear the brunt of
the general indignation. The chief instigators of
this inquiry were the infuriated victims whose
identity this mysterious poet had revealed by
indications that were no mystery. 3. It so happened
that the Illustrious CatuUinus ^ arrived at that time
from Auvergne. He had always been my friend,
and at that moment was particularly intimate with
me, as we had recently been partners in the public
service; 2 for a sojourn abroad ^ often makes fellow-
citizens better friends. Well, Paeonius and Bigerrus *
together laid a trap for my unsuspecting friend.
Designedly taking him off his guard, they asked him
before a number of witnesses whether he recognised
this new poem. " If you would be good enough to
recite it," said he. They proceeded to spout sundry
fragments as if it were all a jest; CatuUinus burst
into laughter, and with unseasonable approbation
cried out that the poem deserved by right to be
immortalised by being inscribed on a plate in
letters of gold, to be set up on the Rostra or

years or more, to the time of Avitus. The whole wording of
the sentence is patently against this.

* For peregrinari used of an inhabitant of Gaul who goes
to Rome compare I. 6. 2.

* All that is known of Paeonius is contained in this letter;
Bigerrus is otherwise unknown.

397

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

acciperet aut etiam Capitolina. 4. Paeonius exarsit,
cui satiricus ille morsum dentis igniti avidius impres-
serat, atque ad adstantes circulatores : " iniuriae
communis," inquit, " iam reiim inveni. videtis ut
Catullinus deperit risu : apparet ei nota memorari.
nam quae causa festinam compulit praecipitare
sententiam, nisi quod iam tenet totum, qui de parte
sic iudicat ? atqui ^ Sidonius nunc in Arverno est ;
unde coUigitur auctore illo,isto auditore rem textam."
itur in furias inque convicia absentis nescientis
innocentisque ; conscientiae, fidei, quaestioni nil
reservatur. sic levis turbae facilitatem qua voluit
et traxit ^ persona popularis. 5. erat enim ipse
Paeonius populi totus, qui tribuniciis flatibus crebro
seditionum pelagus impelleret. ceterum si re-
quisisses : "qui genus, unde domo ? ", non eminentius
quam municipaliter natus quemque inter initia
cognosci claritas vitrici magis quam patris fecerit,
identidem tamen per fas nefasque crescere adfectans
pecuniaeque per avaritiam parcus, per ambitum
prodigus. namque ut familiae superiori per filiam
saltim quamquam honestissimam iungeretur, contra
rigorem civici moris splendidam, ut ferunt, dotem
Chremes noster Pamphilo suo dixerat. 6. cumque

1 atqui Mohr : itaque.

* et traxit L : contraxit. Fortasse attraxit (Luetjohann).

1 This may be (as has been suggested) a reference to the
fact that some of Nero's verses were inscribed in gold letters
and dedicated to Capitoline Jove (Suet. Ner. 10) ; but among
the Romans the idea is older than the age of Nero (see Tac.
Ann. III. 57 and 59, passages unknown to the Thesaurus^
s.v. aureus), and we are told that the Greeks set up three of
Chilon's wise sayings in letters of gold at Delphi (Plin. N.H.
VII. 119). « Verg. Am. VIII. 114.

* Pamphilus married the daughter of Chremes. The dowry
was 10 talents (Terence, Andria, 950 sq.).

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

even on the Capitol.^ 4. Paeonius flared up (the
satirist had quite savagely assailed him with the bite
of his burning tooth) and said to the loungers who
were standing by, " I have now found out the
culprit in this attack on us all. You see how
Catullinus is dying with laughter; obviously our
tale is no news to him. What has made him
blurt out such a hasty opinion ? Surely a man who
pronounces thus on a part of the work already
knows the whole of it. Now Sidonius is at present
in Auvergne ; so we can infer that the thing was
concocted with Sidonius as author and this gentle-
man as audience." They all began to rage and rail
against me, absent as I was and unwitting and
innocent ; no room was left for fair dealing, honesty,
or investigation. So Paeonius, who was a power
with the populace, led the compliant crowd by the
nose. 5. For this Paeonius was a demagogue all
over, the sort of man who was always stirring up a sea
of riots by his blasts of tribunician violence. But if
the question had been asked, " Who is he by birth
and whence does he come ? " ^ — his parentage had
no standing beyond what a provincial town can give,
and in the beginning of his career he was better
known by the eminence of his stepfather than by
that of his father ; but he made repeated efforts to
rise by fair means or foul, and while his avarice
made him stingy his ambition made him a wastrel.
Desiring, even if other means should fail, to gain a
connexion with a family of higher rank through his
daughter (certainly a quite unexceptionable lady),
our Chremes, they say, abandoned the hardness
characteristic of his native place and promised his
Pamphilus a splendid dowr\'.3 6_ Later, when the

399

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

de capessendo diademate coniuratio Marcelliniana ^
coqueretur, nobilium iuventuti signiferum sese in
factione praebuerat, homo adhuc novus in senectute,
donee aliquando propter experimenta felicis audaciae
natalium eius obscuritati dedit hiantis interregni
rima fulgorem. nam vacante aula turbataque
republica solus inventus est, qui ad Gallias adminis-
trandas fascibus prius quam codicillis ausus accingi
mensibus multis tribunal inlustrium potestatum
spectabilis praefectus escenderet, anno peracto
militiae extremae terminum circa vix honoratus,
numerariorum more seu potius advocatorum,
quorum cum finiuntur actiones, tunc incipiunt
dignitates. 7. igitur iste sic praefectorius, sic sena-
tor, cuius moribus quod praeconia competentia
non ex asse persolvo, generi sui moribus debeo,
multorum plus quam bonorum odia commovit adhuc
ignoranti mihi, adhuc amico, tamquam saeculo meo
canere solus versu valerem. venio Arelatem, nil
adhuc (unde enim?) suspicans, quamquam putarer

^ Marcelliniana vel Marcellini requiri admonet Mommsen,
recte, ut videtur, nisi Marcellina scrihas : marcell(i)ana codd.

1 In spite of tbe confusion in the MSS., it seems reasonable
to believe that the name here connected with the conspiracy
is that of Marcellinus ; see Introd,, p. xxiii. Sidonius seems to
imply that Marcellinus was a party to the plot ; if this is so,
he must have speedily withdrawn without committing himself
deeply. We know that he soon became an active supporter
of Majorian. The "interregnum" occurred between the
death of Avitus and the accession of Majorian. It was an
interregnum in a double sense, as there was no western
Emperor and no Praetorian Prefect of Gaul.

* Praetorian Prefects received the rank of inlustris as a
matter of course (n. on Carm. 7. 241), but Paeonius remained
a spectabilis until his appointment was regularised. The
spectabUes ranked below the iyditstres and above the darissimi.
See Bury I. 19 sqq., Hodgkin I. 603, 620. Since the vicarii
ranked as speci/ibiles, it is tempting to conjecture that
400

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

conspiracy of Marcellinus ^ to assume the diadem
was being hatched, he presented himself to the
young nobles as their ringleader, still a " new man "
in his old age ; till in the end, thanks to some strokes
of lucky audacity on his part, the chink of a gaping
interregnum let in a ray of glory upon the obscurity
of his birth. For the throne being vacant and the
administration in a turmoil, he alone of all men was
found bold enough to assume the government of
Gaul by taking up the fasces before receiving his
patent of office, and to mount for several months
the tribunal of " illustrious " dignitaries as an
" eminent " prefect,^ so that he had barely gained
his high dignity by the end of the year, toward
the very cl^ose of his term of service, like the
official cashiers, or rather the advocates, who
receive their promotion just at the time when their
activities are coming to an end.^ 7. Well then, this
man, thus risen to prefectorian and senatorial rank (and
if I do not give a full advertisement of his character
it is owing to my respect for the character of his
son-in-law), stirred up ill-feeling against me amongst
the many rather than amongst the good, while I
was still ignorant of his doings, still his friend — as
if I were the only man in my generation who could
write poetry! I came to Arelate, still suspecting
nothing (why should I ?), although my enemies did
not expect me to appear; and on the following

Paeonius held the vicariate at the time when he took over
the prefecture. If so, he may have acted partly at least from
patriotic motives ; as there was no one to carry on the
Prefect's duties, the V^icar might feel bound to step in.

' The numerarii (cashiers in the office of the Praetorian
Prefect) might expect to receive the rank of tribunu^; the
advocates attached to the Prefect's court might become Counts
of the Consistory.

401

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

ab inimicis non adfuturus, ac principe post diem viso
in forum ex more descendo. quod ubi visum est,
ilico expavit, ut ait ille, nil fortiter ausa seditio.
alii tamen mihi plus quam deceret ad genua provolvi ;
alii, ne salutarent, fugere post statuas, occuli post
columnas; alii tristes vultuosique iunctis mihi
lateribus incedere. 8. hie ego quid sibi haec vellet
in illis superbiae nimiae, nimiae in istis humilitatis
forma mirari, nee ultro tamen causas interrogare,
cum subornatus unus e turba faetiosorum dat sese
mihi consalutandum. turn procedente sermone:
" cernis hos? " inquit. et ego: "video," inquam,
" gestusque eorum miror equidem nee admiror."
ad haec noster interpres : " ut satirographum te,"
inquit. " aut exsecrantur aut reformidant." " unde ?
cur? quando?" respondi; " quis crimen agnovit?
quis detulit? quis probavit? " moxque subridens :
** perge," inquam, " amice, nisi molestum est, et
tumescentes nomine meo consulere dignare, utrum-
nam ille delator aut index, qui satiram me scripsisse
confinxit, et perscripsisse confinxerit ; unde forte sit
tutius, si retractabunt, ut superbire desistant."
9. quod ubi nuntius rettulit, protinus cuncti non

i Lucan V. 322 sq.

402

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

day, having visited the Emperor, I walked down in
the usual way to the Forum. This was observed,
and thereupon panic filled what the poet calls

" The rout that dare not strike a manful blow." ^

Some indeed threw themselves at my feet with
indecent servility ; others, to avoid greeting me, ran
behind statues and concealed themselves behind
columns ; others with downcast expression and long
faces joined themselves on and walked at my side.

8. At this point I began to wonder what such a show
of extravagant haughtiness in one party and extrava-
gant abjectness in another could possibly mean, but I
did not go out of my way to inquire into the reasons,
until one of the aggressive rabble, who had been
put up to the job, presented himself to me so as to
make me greet him. Then as we went on talking
he asked, "Do you see these gentlemen?" "I
do," said I, " and I find their behaviour more puzzling
than pleasing." " They look on you as a satirist,"
said my instructor, " and curse or dread you accord-
ingly." "How so? Why? When?" I replied;
"Who discovered the wrongdoing? Who has in-
formed against me ? Who has proved the charge ? "
Then with a smile I added, " Go on, my friend, if
you don't mind, and be good enough to inquire as
from me of those who are making all this stir whether
the informer or spy who invented the story that I
had composed a satire also invented the addition
that I have finished writing it. So if these
people will think over it they will perhaps find
it safer to give up their insolent conduct."

9. When the messenger brought back this answer,
the whole company, not in a quiet way or one

403

THE LETFERS OF SIDONIUS

modeste neque singuli sed propere et catervatim
oscula ac dexteras mihi dederunt. solus Curio
meus, in transfugarum perfidiam invectus, cum
advesperasceret, per cathedrarios servos vispilloni-
bus taetriores domum raptus ac reportatus est.
10. postridie iussit Augustus ut epulo suo circensibus
ludis interessemus. primus iacebat cornu sinistro
consul ordinarius Severinus, vir inter ingentes
principum motus atque inaequalem reipublicae
statum gratiae semper aequalis ; iuxta eum Magnus,
olim ex praefecto, nuper ex consule, par honoribus
persona geminatis, recumbente post se Camillo,
filio fratris, qui duabus dignitatibus et ipse decursis
pariter ornaverat proconsulatum patris, patrui
consulatum; Paeonius hinc propter atque hinc
Athenius, homo litium temporumque varietatibus
exercitatus. hunc sequebatur Gratianensis, omni
ab infamia vir sequestrandus, qui Severinum sicut
honore postibat, ita favore praecesserat. ultimus

^ Paeonius is so called as an agitator of the rabble. Cf.
Lucan I. 268-271, IV. 799-801.

* One end of the dinner-table was left free for the con-
venience of the service; it is from this end that the " right "
and " left " sides of the couch are reckoned. The usual form
of dining-couch at this time was semicircular {sigma or
stibadium), being made to fit the round tables which had long
been fashionable. The " horns " are the two ends of the
couch. In the present case the guests are arranged in a way
which seems to have been usual at the time. On the right
extremity (or " horn ") reclines Majorian, the host. Opposite
him, on the left horn, is the guest of honour (the consul). The
other guests are arranged round the couch in strict order of
precedence, beginning with Magnus, next to the consul, and
ending with Sidonius, who is next to Majorian. At the
beginning of the conversation the Emperor was apparently
expected to address the chief guest first and then say a word
to each of the others in order of precedence.
404

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

by one, but in a crowd and in a rush, offered me
their lips and their hands. Only my good Curio ^
upbraided violently the disloyalty of the deserters,
but as evening was coming on he was caught up
by his sedan-bearers, who were more repulsive than
undertakers' men, and so he was carried off to his
liouse. 10. The next day Augustus invited me to
take part in his banquet on the occasion of the
sports of the circus. The first place on the left horn
of the couch ^ was occupied by Severinus,^ consul
of the year, a man who through all the great struggles
between the mighty and through all the unstable
fortunes through which the state had passed had
always kept a steady position of influence. At his
side was Magnus,^ who had formerly had the stand-
ing of an ex-prefect and had lately gained that
of an ex-consul,^ a personality equal to the double
distinction conferred upon him. After him was
placed Camillus,® his brother's son, who, having
himself also passed through two high offices, had
added fresh lustre alike to his father's proconsulship
and to his uncle's consulship. Then next to him
came Paeonius. and then Athenius,'' a man who had
played a busy part in the vicissitudes of litigation
and revolution. After him came Gratianensis,'' a
man whom no ill-report ought to touch, inferior
to Severinus in rank but having the advantage
of him in favour. Last came I, placed where

' Nothing further is known of Severinus.

* Magnus : n. on Carm. 23. 455.

' As already mentioned, Magnus had been consul in the
previous year (460).

• Caraillus : Carm. 9. 8.
' Not otherwise known.

405

VOL. I. Q

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

ego iacebam, qua purpurati latus laevum margine in
dextro porrigebatur. 11. edulium multa parte finita
Caesaris ad consulem sermo dirigitur, isque succinc-
tus; inde devolvitur ad consularem; cum quo
saepe repetitus, quia de litteris factus, ad virum
inlustrem Camillum ex occasione transfertur, in
tantum ut diceret princeps : " vere habes patruum,
frater Camille, propter quern me familiae tuae
consulatum unum gratuler contulisse." tunc ille,
qui simile aliquid optaret, tempore invento : " non
unum," inquit, " domine Auguste, sed primum."
summo fragore, ut nee Augusti reverentia obsisteret,
excepta sententia est. 12. inde nescio quid
Athenium interrogans superiectum Paeonium com-
pellatio Augusta praeteriit, casu an industria ignoro.
quod cum turpiter Paeonius aegre tulisset, quod
fuit turpius, compellato tacente respondit. subrisit
Augustus, ut erat auctoritate servata, cum se com-
munioni dedisset, ioci plenus, per quern cachinnum
non minus obtigit Athenio vindictae, quam conti-
gisset iniuriae. colligit itaque sese trebacissimus
senex et, ut semper intrinsecus aestu pudoris exco-
quebatur, cur sibi Paeonius anteferretur : "non
miror," inquit, " Auguste, si mihi standi locum

1 This is Sidonius's way of saying that he was close to the
emperor, who occupied the right "horn." The mention of
the " left side " of the emperor has no significance, as every
diner reclined on his left side (or elbow) ; it is due merely to
the author's itch for antithesis; as "right" occurs in the
sentence he cannot refrain from contrasting it with "left,"
just as he can scarcely ever mention " new " without contrast-
ing it with " old," and vice versa.
406

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

the left side of the wearer of the purple reposed
on the right extremity of the couch.^ 11. When
we had got a good way through the courses,
Caesar's conversation was directed to the consul,
and was only short ; then it passed to the consular,
and with him it was frequently resumed, being on
literary subjects ; it was then shifted, when an occasion
offered, to the Illustrious Camillus, to the extent
that the Emperor remarked, " Truly, my dear
Camillus, with such an uncle as you have I am
delighted to have bestowed one consulship on your
family." Then Camillus. who had similar ambitions
for himself, found his opportunity, and said, " Not
one consulship, my lord Augustus, but the first."
This reply was received with a roar of applause, not
hindered even by respect for Augustus. 12. Then
Augustus in his round of remarks, by putting to
Athenius some trifling question (whether deHberately
or by accident I know not), passed over Paeonius,
who was placed above him. Paeonius, with very bad
taste, showed annoyance at this, and, what was worse,
before the person addressed found words to reply,
answered for him. Augustus gave a gentle laugh,
being a man who, while keeping his dignity, was
full of merriment when he had given himself over
to good-fellowship; and by that chuckle Athenius
won a revenge quite as great as the injury which he
would otherwise have suffered. So this old gentle-
man, who was a decidedly artful person, pulled him-
self together, and found a vent for the blaze of
shame which constantly burned within him as he
thought how Paeonius was favoured above him. " I
am not at all surprised, Augustus," said he, " that
this fellow should attempt to rob me of my right to

407

THE LETfERS OF SIDONIUS

praeripere conetur, qui tibi invadere non erubescit
loquendi." 13. et vir inlustris Gratianensis : " mul-
tus," inquit, " hoc iurgio satiricis campus aperitur."
hie imperator ad me cervice conversa: "audio,"
ait, " comes Sidoni, quod satiram scribas." " et
ego," inquam, " hoc audio, domine princeps." tunc
ille, sed ridens : " parce vel nobis." "at ego,"
inquam, " quod ab inlicitis tempero, mihi parco."
post quae ille : " et quid faciemus his," inquit, " qui
te lacessunt? " et ego: " quisquis est iste, domine
imperator, publice accuset : si redarguimur, debita
luamus supplicia convicti ; ceterum obiecta si non
inprobabiliter cassaverimus, oro ut indultu clementiae
tuae praeter iuris iniuriam in accusatorem meum
quae volo scribam." 14. ad haec ipse Paeonium
conspicatus nutu coepit consulere nutantem, place-
retne condicio. sed cum ille confusus reticuisset
princepsque consuleret erubescenti, ait: "annuo
postulatis, si hoc ipsum e vestigio versibus petas."
" fiat," inquam; retrorsumque conversus, tamquam
aquam manibus poscerem, tantumque remoratus,
quantum stibadii circulum celerantia ministeria
percurrunt, cubitum toro reddidi. et imperator:
" spoponderas te licentiam scribendae satirae versi-
bus subitis postulaturum." et ego:

" scribere me satiram qui culpat, maxime princeps,
hanc rogo decernas aut probe t aut timeat."

^ In the case of Sidonius this title is commonly thought to
have been purely honorary, not due to the holding of any public
office. The view of Savaron that he was comes civitatis
Arvemorum has recently been revived, but has no evidence
to support it ; and the existence of an official with this title in
the reign of Majorian would certainly be surprising.

408

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

precedence, when he does not blush to usurp your
right to speak." 13. Then said the Illustrious
Gratianensis, " This \\Tangle opens a wide door
for satirists." Thereupon the Emperor turned his
head to me and said, ** I hear. Count ^ Sidonius,
that you write satire." I repHed, " Sovereign Lord,
I hear it too." Then he said, but with a smile,
" Anyhow, spare poor me." I said, " In keeping
off forbidden ground it is myself that I spare."
*' And what," he said, " shall we do with those who
attack you ? " I replied, "Whoever does so, my Lord
Emperor, ought to accuse me openly ; if I am found
guilty, let me pay the proper penalty as a proved
offender; if, on the other hand, I can make out a
good case against the charge, I beg that by the
indulgence of your gracious clemency I may be
allowed to wTite what I please against my accuser,
short of offending the law." 14. At this he looked
Paeonius in the face and by a nod propounded to the
confounded courtier the question whether he
approved of the terms. When the abashed Paeonius
said nothing, the Prince showed consideration for
his blushes and said, " I approve the proposal, on
condition that you make the request on the spot
in verse." "Very good," 1 said; then I turned
round as if asking for water for my hands, and after
M'aiting just the time that the hurrying servants
take to make the round of the couch, I again reposed
my arm on the cushion. Then the Emperor said,
" You undertook to ask in impromptu verse for
permission to write a satire." I said:

" Who taxes me with satire — mighty prince,
Say he must prove it or be made to wince."

409

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

15. secutus est fragor, nisi quod dico iactantia est,
par Camillano, quern quidem iion tarn carminis
dignitas quam temporis brevitas meruit, et
princeps : " deum tester et statum publicum me de
cetero numquam prohibiturum quin quae velis
scribas, quippe cum tibi crimen impactum probari
nuUo modo possit; simul et periniurium est sen-
tentiam purpurati tribuere privatis hoc simultatibus.
ut innocens ac secura nobilitas propter odia certa
crimine incerto periclitetur. " ad banc ipse sen-
tentiam cum verecunde capite demisso gratias
agerem, contionatoris mei coeperunt ora pallere, in
quae paulo ante post iram tristitia successerat ; nee
satis defuit quin gelarent tamquam ad exsertum
praebere cervices iussa mucronem. 16. vix post
haec alia pauca : surreximus. paululum ab aspectu
imperatoris processeramus atque etiamnunc chlamy-
dibus induebamur, cum mihi consul ad pectus,
praefectorii ad manus cadere, ipse ille reus amicus
crebro et abiecte miserantibus cunctis humiliari, ita
ut timerem ne mihi invidiam supplicando moveret.
quam criminando non concitaverat. dixi ad ex-
tremum pressus oratu procerum conglobatorum.
scire t conatibus suis versu nil reponendum, derogare
actibus meis in posterum tamen si pepercisset;
410

BOOK I. XI. TO MONTIUS

15. At once there was an outburst of applause (if it
is not boasting to say so) like that which followed
the sally of Camillus; however, it was earned not
so much by the quality of the verse as by its quick
production. Then the Prince said, " I declare
before God and the State that for the future I will
never forbid your writing anything that you please,
for the charge that has been fastened upon you can
in no way be substantiated. Moreover, it would be
an outrageous thing if the authority of the wearer
of the purple should so favour private animosities
as to endanger an inoffensive and unsuspecting
nobleman by a doubtful charge prompted by un-
doubted ill-will." At this utterance I modestly
bowed my head and expressed my thanks, and the
face of my demagogue, in which gloom had so
recently taken the place of anger, began to pale;
indeed it almost froze, as if the order had been
given him to stretch out his neck to the drawn
sword of the executioner. 16. After this there was
very little further conversation ; then we rose. We
had only proceeded a little way from the Emperor's
presence, and we were just putting on our cloaks, when
the consul flung himself on my breast and the ex-pre-
fects grasped my hands, while my friend the offender,
of all people, abased himself before me again and
again, rousing the whole company to compassion,
so that I was afraid that by his humiliation he might
stir up against me the ill-will which he had failed
to excite by his accusation. In the end, urged by
a massed appeal from the dignitaries present, I told
him that he might be sure that no revenge in verse
would be taken for his machinations, always provided
that in the future he did not vilify my actions ; for

411

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

etenim sufficere debere, quod satirae obiectio famam
mihi parasset, sed sibi infamiam. 17. in summa
percuU ^ quidem, domine maior, non assertorem
caliimniae tantum quantum murmuratorem ; sed
cum mihi sic satisfactum est ut pectori meo pro
reatu eius tot potestatum dignitatumque culmina
et iura summitterentur, fateor exordium contumeliae
talis tanti fuisse, cui finis gloria fuit. vale.

LIBER SECVNDVS

SIDONIVS ECDICIO SVO
SALVTEM

L Duo nunc pariter mala sustinent Arverni tui.
"quaenam?" inquis. praesentiam Seronati et
absentiam tuam. Seronati, inquam : de cuius ut
primum etiam nomine loquar, sic mihi videtur
quasi praescia futurorum lusisse fortuna, sicuti ex
adverso maiores nostri proelia, quibus nihil est
foedius, bella dixerunt ; quique etiam pari contrarie-
tate fata, quia non parcerent, Parcas vocitavere.

^ perculi Wilamoivitz : pertuli.

* For Ecdicius see Introd., pp. xlvi £f.

^ Seronatus is generally said to have been Praetorian
Prefect of Gaul, but it is quite possible that he was either
Vicarius of the Seven Provinces (see p. 347, n. 2) or governor of
412

BOOK II. I. TO ECDICIUS

there was good reason, as I told him, for me to be
content, inasmuch as his charge of satire-writing
had brought me repute and him disrepute. 17. The
upshot of it all is, my honoured lord, that I crushed
one who had whispered rather than proclaimed a
false accusation against me ; but now that I have
got such ample satisfaction, having had all those
high and mighty dignitaries bowing their majesty
and authority before me because of his guilt, I must
confess that the insult which formed the preamble
was worth while, seeing that the conclusion has been
glory. Farewell.

BOOK II

SIDONIUS TO HIS DEAR ECDICIUS,
GREETING ♦

1 . Your countrymen the Arverni have now to bear
two troubles at once. " What can they be ? " you
ask. Seronatus's ^ presence and your absence. Sero-
natus's, I say, whose very name, I may remark at the
outset, makes me feel that chance, foreseeing the:
future, must have played a joke, just as our ancestors,
going by contraries, called wars, which are the
foulest of all things, bella (" beautiful "), and with
like contradiction called the Fates Parcae, because

the province of Aquitanica Prima (perhaps in a.d. 469). He
was in league with Euric, and tried to deliver the Roman
territories into the hands of the Goths, until he was brought
to justice by the Arvemians (VII. 7. 2). See also V. 13.

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

rediit ipse Catilina saeculi nostri nuper Aturribus, ut
sanguinem fortunasque miserorum, quas ibi ex parte
propinaverat, hie ex asse misceret. 2. scitote in
eo per dies spiritum diu dissimulati furoris aperiri:
aperte invidet, abiecte fingit, serviliter superbit,
indicit ut dominus, exigit ut tyrannus, addicit ut
iudex, calumniatur ut barbarus ; to to die a metu
armatus, ab avaritia ieiunus, a cupiditate terribilis,
a vanitate crudelis non cessat simul furta vel punire
vel facere; palam et ridentibus convocatis ructat
inter cives pugnas, inter barbaros litteras ; epistulas,
ne primis quidem apicibus sufficienter initiatus,
publice a iactantia dictat, ab impudentia emendat;
3. totum quod concupiscit quasi comparat nee dat
pretia contemnens nee accipit instrumenta desperans ;
in concilio iubet in consilio tacet, in ecclesia iocatur
in convivio praedicat, in cubiculo damnat in quaes-
tione dormitat; implet cotidie silvas fugientibus
villas hospitibus,^ altaria reis carceres clericis;
^ hostibua LC.

^ Whether the form Aturribus is correct or not, the reference
is to the town of the Aturenses (Ci vitas Aturensium, modem
Aire, in Gascony). It was in Novempopulana, which now
belonged to the Goths, and the Gothic court occasionally resided
there.

* The reference seems to be to instrumenta emptionis (see
Justinian, Inst. III. 23. 1), written contracts between vendor
and intending purchaser.

* The Concilium Septem Provinciarum (Introd., p. xii).

* Referring to the usual system of occupation by the Goths
and others, whereby the Roman landowner had to surrender
a certain portion of his estate to a " barbarian." See Introd.,
p. X, n. 2. The word hospes was euphemistically applied
414

BOOK II. 1. TO ECDICIUS

they spared not. This very Catiline of our age
returned lately from Aire ^ to make here one big
draught of the blood and the fortunes of the wretched
inhabitants, after a good taste of such refreshment
in the other place. 2. Be it known to all of you
that in his case a long-concealed spirit of brutality
is being revealed more fully every day. He is
openly malignant and basely deceitful ; he swaggers
like a slave and gives his orders like a master;
exacts like a despot, condemns like a judge, accuses
falsely like a barbarian ; all day long he goes armed
through fear and he goes hungry' through avarice;
his greed makes him terrible, his presumption makes
him cruel ; he is ceaselessly busy either in punishing
thefts or in committing them ; in public and amidst
the laughter of those he has assembled he belches
forth talk of fighting amongst peaceful citizens and
of letters amongst barbarians : as for his written
instructions, not having had a real schooHng even in
his ABC, he dictates them in public through boast-
fulness and corrects them through sheer effrontery.
3. Everything that he lusts to possess he makes a
pretence of purchasing ; he is too arrogant to pay the
price and too diffident to agree to a contract of
sale.2 In the Common Council ^ he gives orders,
among his counsellors he is mute ; in the church
he jests, at the banquet he preaches; in his
chamber he convicts, in the court he dozes; each
day he crowds the woods with fugitives, the farms
with barbarian occupants,^ the altars with accused
persons, the prisons with priests; he brags to the

both to the owner and to his unwelcome "guest." The
meaning is that Seronatus allows the Goths to encroach freely
on Roman territory.

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

exsultans Gothis insultansque Romanis, inludens
praefectis conludensque numerariis, leges Theudo-
sianas caleans Theudoricianasque proponens veteres
culpas, nova tributa perquirit. 4. proinde moras
tuas citus explica et quidquid illud est quod te retentat
incide. te exspectat palpitantium civium extrema
libertas. quidquid sperandum, quidquid desper-
andum est, fieri te medio, te praesule placet, si
nullae a republica vires, nulla praesidia, si nuUae,
quantum rumor est, Anthemii principis opes, statuit
te auctore nobilitas seu patriam dimittere seu
capillos. vale.

II

SIDONIVS DOMITIO SVO
SALVTEM

1. Ruri me esse causaris, cum mihi potius queri
suppetat te nunc urbe retineri. iam ver decedit
aestati et per lineas sol altatus extremas in axem
Scythicum radio peregrinante porrigitur. hie quid
de regionis nostrae climate loquar ? cuius spatia

^ i.e. assume the tonsure.

* On Domitius see Carm. 24. 10 n. Some of the "fine
writing " in this letter is rather obscure, and the description
does not supply adequate material for a plausible plan of the
buildings. For the baths of Avitacum see Carm. 18. There
have been several attempts to identify the site of the " villa."
The favourite theory places it on the shores of the Lac d'Aydat,
about 12 miles S.W. of Clermont-Ferrand. The very name of
Aydat (Aidacum in mediaeval documents) seems to confirm
the identification, and in the village church there is a mysterious
416

BOOK II. II. TO DOMITIUS

Goths and insults the Romans, mocks the magistrates
and plays tricks along with the public cashiers ; he
tramples on the laws of Theodosius and issues laws
of Theodoric, searching out ancient offences and
brand-new taxes. 4. Be quick then and clear away
your impediments and break off whatever is detain-
ing you. Your countrymen in the last throes of
the struggle for liberty are waiting for you. Every
counsel of hope or of despair we are prepared to
risk with you in our midst, with you as our leader.
If the state has neither strength nor soldiers, if (as
report has it) the Emperor Anthemius has no re-
sources, then our nobility has resolved under your
guidance to give up either its country or its hair.^
Farewell.

II

SIDONIUS TO HIS FRIEND DOMITIUS,
GREETING *

1. You grumble at my staying in the country,
whereas I have better reason to complain of your
being detained in town. Spring is now giving
place to summer, and the sun, travelling upward
through its highest latitudes, is obtruding an alien
ray upon the region of the North Pole. No need
to speak here of the climate of this district. The

inscription, possibly of the 12th century, but now thought to
be a copy of a much older one : HIC ST (= sunt) DVO
INNOCENTES ET S (= sanctiis) SIDONIVS. But it is not
very easy to accept this tempting identification, even if we
make allowance for considerable changes in the physical
features of the district. The question is discussed at length
by Stevens, Appendix B, pp. 185-195, with the aid of a map,
a plan, and an aerial photograph.

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

divinum sic tetendit opificium ut magis vaporibus
orbis occidui subiceremur. quid plura? niundus
incanduit : glacies Alpina deletur et hiulcis arentium
rimarum flexibus terra perscribitur ; squalet glarea
in vadis, limus in ripis, pulvis in campis ; aqua ipsa
quaecumque perpetuo labens tractu cunctante
languescit ; iam non solum calet unda sed coquitur.

2. et nunc, dum in carbaso sudat unus, alter in
bombyce, tu endromidatus exterius, intrinsecus
fasceatus, insuper et concava municipis Amerini sede
compressus discipulis non aestu minus quam timore
pallentibus exponere oscitabundus ordiris : " Samia
mihimaterfuit." quin tu mage , si quid tibi salubre
cordi, raptim subduceris anhelantibus angustiis
civitatis et contubernio nostro aventer insertus fallis
clementissimo recessu inclementiam canicularem?

3. sane si placitum, quis sit agri in quem vocaris
situs accipe. Avitaci sumus : nomen hoc praedio,
quod, quia uxorium, patrio mihi dulcius : haec mihi
cum meis praesule deo, nisi quid tu fascinum verere,
Concordia, mons ab occasu, quamquam terrenus,
arduus tamen inferiores sibi colles tamquam gemino
fomite efFundit, quattuor a se circiter iugerum

^ i.e. of withies, for which Ameria was famous. This ex-
pression has been ludicrously misunderstood ; Domitius has
actually been represented as "teaching in the schools of
Ameria " ! See Housman in Class. Rev. XIV (1900), p. 54.

* Terence, Eunuchus, 107.

' Settlements of considerable size, consisting largely of
tenant-farmers, slaves, and other persons attached in various
ways to the estate or to its owner, grew up in the neighbour-
hood of important " villas." Thus Aviiacum is here treated
grammatically as a township, and used in the locative case.

* i.e. not rocky,

418

BOOK II. II. TO DOMITIUS

divine workmanship has so fixed its borders that we
are chiefly exposed to the heats of the west. Why
say more? The earth has groMn hot; the ice of
the Alps is disappearing; the land is being scored
with irregular curved cracks gaping in the heat;
gravel Hes untidily in the fords, mud on the banks,
dust in the fields; even streams that flow all the
year round have languidly slowed down ; the water
is not merely hot, it boils. 2. And at this time of year,
while one man sweats in linen and another in silk,
you with your woollen gown outside and your
swathings underneath, and, as if that were not
enough, squeezed into a deep chair made of
Ameria's population,^ begin yawningly to expound
to your pupils, whose pale faces are due quite as
much to the heat as to fear of you : "A Samian
was my mother." 2 Why not rather, if you have
any thought of your health, promptly withdraw from
the panting oppression of the town and eagerly join
our house-party, and so beguile the fierceness of
the dog-days by retiring to the coolest of retreats ?
3. Just let me tell you, if you don't mind, how this
country place you are invited to is situated. We
are at Avitacum ; ^ this is the name of the farm,
which is dearer to me than the property I inherited
from my father, because it came to me with my
wife : such is the harmony in which, under God's
guidance, I live with my family (I hope you are
not afraid of the evil eye !). On the western side is
a mountain, earthy in substance * but stiff to climb,
which pushes out lower hills from itself like offshoots
from a double stem ; and these hills diverge so
as to leave a breadth of about four iugera ^ between

' The itigerutn was about five-eighths of an acre.

THE LETTERS OF SIDONIUS

latitudine abductos. sed donee domicilio competens
vestibuli campus aperitur, mediam vallem reetis
tractibus prosequuntur latera elivorum usque in
marginem villae, quae in Borean Austrumque con-
versis frontibus tenditur. 4. balineum ab Africo
radicibus nemorosae rupis adhaerescit, et si caedua
per iugum silva truncetu